Adolescents’ thoughts about parents’ jobs and their importance for adolescents’ future orientation

Abstract

The current study examined the relation between adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ jobs and their future orientation, and tested the role of parental support. Four hundred and fifteen ninth through twelfth graders were surveyed about their parents’ job rewards, self‐direction, and stressors, as well as their expectations for employment and education prospects. Results indicate that perceptions of parents’ rewards, self‐direction, and stress predict how positively or negatively adolescents perceive the future to be. Results also suggest that higher levels of parental support may weaken the association between perceptions and future orientation when adolescents perceive their parents experience unfavorable conditions at work. These results suggest that adolescents’ perceptions of parents’ jobs have implications for their preparation for adulthood.

Mexican-origin parents’ work conditions and adolescents’ adjustment.

“…Workplace self-direction often characterizes professional more so than unskilled positions, but research with ethnic minority parents has found variability in levels of self-direction across low-wage jobs (Yoshikawa, 2011). Across varying work contexts, parents’ occupational self-direction has been positively associated with adolescents’ expectations for educational success (primarily African American families; Gardner Neblett & Schnabel Cortina, 2006) and mental health (fathers and pre-adolescent daughters, but not mothers, in dual-earner working-class families; Perry-Jenkins & Gillman, 2000), and protective against later problem behavior (for fathers of young children in nationally representative sample; Parcel & Menaghan, 1993). …”

Intra-personal and extra-personal predictors of suicide attempts of South Korean adolescents

“…In addition, exploring the influence of gender and school grade seems necessary (Gould, Shaffer, Fisher, & Garfinkel, 1998;Neblett & Cortina, 2006;Sudak, Ford, & Rushford, 1984). Many studies have reported that interestingly, female students think more about suicide than male students (Sudak et al, 1984).…”

Youths’ socialization to work and school within the family

“…The linkage found within the work domain fits with the ecological framework (Bronfenbrenner, 1986), showing that youth learn about adults’ work lives through their parents’ work experiences (Abramovitch & Johnson, 1992; Barling, Dupre, & Hepburn, 1998; Neblett & Cortina, 2006). The fairly weak associations suggest that parents’ experiences are not wholly transmitted to youth (Porfeli et al, 2013; Galinsky, 2010).…”

“…The implicit and explicit messages parents transmit about their experiences in the world of work constitute an influential source of information for their offspring. Some research indicates that youth have a reasonably accurate understanding of the general aspects of their parents’ work life, the hierarchical position of their parents’ jobs, their job satisfaction, and whether or not their parents are struggling with work (Abramovitch & Johnson, 1992; Barling, Dupre, & Hepburn, 1998; Neblett & Cortina, 2006; Piotrkowski & Stark, 1987). Youth learn about adults’ work lives through their parents’ experiences and this learning translates into youths’ motivation to work (Porfeli et al, 2008).…”