A Study of the Reasons for Slight Prference of Talented Girls towards Humanities in Semnan high Schools

This study chiefly aimed to investigate the reasons for slight preference of talented girls towards humanities in Semnan high schools. To this end, all high school female sophomores studying mathematics/physics, natural sciences, and humanities in Semnan in the school year 2008-2009 with first year GPA above 17 were taken into consideration as the target population. Out of 230 talented students 193 students were included as the sample of this survey study consulting Krejcie & Morgan’s table using stratified random sampling method. In order to collect data a researcher-developed and Holland's questionnaires were utilized. The reliability of the former was assessed to be 0.75 using Cronbach's alpha and the validity of both instruments were confirmed by experts. t-test, ANOVA, X2, and Duncan test were used to analyze data. The results of the study indicated that personality type, apathy, parent's status (interest, education, and income), unawareness of the status of labor market and the student's evaluation of the social status of the humanities influenced the student's choice of the field of study and eventually their preference towards humanities.