title: Barriers to health career aspirations of young women in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
abstract: This study concentrated on a sample of 75 young women in high school in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas (LRGV). The effects of socioeconomic status, size of residential community, and career deflection on the types of barriers to career aspirations perceived by these young women were examined. To identify barriers unique to young women, we compared them to a group of young men of similar age from the LRGV who also were aspiring to a health career. The barriers most frequently identified could be overcome by programs already at work in the LRGV sponsored by the Area Health Education Center. Extrapolating from this study, there are 25,007 students in the valley, 5,041 are young women interested in health careers which may indicate a potential improvement in the representation in the health professions.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001113:Area Health Education Centers; D002321:Career Choice; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006281:Health Occupations; D006801:Humans; D012424:Rural Population; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013781:Texas; D014930:Women