Table 3.

Mean values and gender differences regarding vocational interest in specific activities; sorted from highest to lowest effect size (d)

Single items concerning activities in future job: In my future job, I would like to …	All M (SD)	Girls M (SD)	Boys M (SD)	t test (T value)	Effect size (d)
Construct and build technical tools	2.12 (0.98)	1.66 (0.71)	2.56 (0.98)	11.59**	1.1
Invent and develop new technical tools	2.11 (0.94)	1.67 (0.72)	2.51 (0.95)	10.98**	1.0
Explain and sell technical tools	2.18 (0.88)	1.78 (0.69)	2.56 (0.87)	10.74**	1.0
Know more about technical tools	2.28 (0.93)	1.87 (0.75)	2.67 (0.91)	10.47**	1.0
Use technical tools	2.58 (0.96)	2.13 (0.88)	2.95 (0.86)	10.10**	0.9
Develop new tools in a team	2.23 (0.92)	1.83 (0.72)	2.59 (0.94)	10.06**	0.9
Deal with people	3.13 (0.81)	3.39 (0.70)	2.89 (0.83)	7.17**	0.7
Design technical tools	2.32 (0.98)	2.14 (0.92)	2.49 (0.99)	4.02**	0.4

N = 480; mean (M, Likert scale ranging from 1 to 4) and standard deviation (SD) for girls and boys separately; results of t test for independent samples (girls and boys); effect size (Cohen’s d): small: 0.2 < d  < 0.5; medium: 0.5 ≤ d  < 0.8; large: d  ≥ 0.8; **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05, n.s. not significant. Large effects (d  > 0.8) are printed in bold type