Educational and Vocational Aspirations of Minority and Female Students: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

This study examined the relative importance of school, family, personal/psychological, race, and sex variables in predicting educational and vocational aspirations. A nationally representative sample of 10th-grade students was followed through 2 years beyond their high school. Results suggested that sex and race significantly predicted educational and vocational aspirations of students. The educational aspiration model was shown to be more robust than the occupational aspiration model. Overall, students showed increases in educational and occupational aspirations, regardless of sex and race. Compared with other groups, Asian Americans had the greatest increase in educational aspirations. Female students, on the average, had higher educational and vocational aspirations.

Adolescents' Work-Family Gender Ideologies and Educational Expectations

“…Contrary to other studies (Karraker 1992;Mau and Bikos 2000;Wilson and Wilson 1992), we do not find students who identify as a race or ethnicity other than White to have higher educational expectations than those who identify as White. In our results, there are no statistically significant differences between the educational aspirations of White youth and Black youth.…”

“…Racial/ethnic minorities have greater net aspirations than do Whites (Karraker 1992;Mau and Bikos 2000;Qian and Blair 1999). One explanation for this pattern is that parents in minority families may be especially encouraging of their children to strive for higher education and success because they themselves are more likely to have experienced disadvantage and discrimination in their own lives (Wilson and Wilson 1992).…”

“…In general, parental aspirations are positively correlated with adolescent educational aspirations (Mau and Bikos 2000;Rhea and Otto 2001;Wilson and Wilson 1992). Research has shown that parents shape and model educational values, although the gendered nature of these processes, and the extent to which they reflect parental attitudes toward gendered family roles, is not consistently apparent (Carter and Wojtkiewicz 2000;Cohen 1987;Saltiel 1985).…”

Adolescent goal content and pursuit: A review of the literature from the past 16 years

“…Similarly, feared selves often consist of the negative stereotypes attributed to ones ethnic group, such as becoming a manual laborer for Hispanic American youths. In line with these prevailing stereotypes, a study of ethnic groups in the USA found that Asian American youths report the highest educational and occupational aspirations while Hispanic Americans report the lowest (Mau & Bikos, 2000). In contrast to these findings, another recent study found no support for difference in reported aspirations and expectations between American ethnic minority groups.…”

“…Conversely, boys rate social status (Ander-man & Anderman, 1999), becoming successful (Nurmi et al, 1999) and financial aspirations as more important (Kasser & Ryan, 1993). In the area of schooling, girls report and endorse educational goals to a greater extent than boys (Honora, 2002;Marjoribanks, 2002a;Mau & Bikos, 2000;Nurmi, 1994;Nurmi et al, 1995;Yowell, 2000). A disproportionate number of girls are found to endorse possible academic selves in arts and humanities compared to boys who endorse more academic possible selves in business and mathematics (Lips, 2004).…”