Sex differences in the educational and occupational aspirations of rural youth

Rural girls (N = 926) and boys (N = 861) in grades 10, 11, and 12 answered questions concerning educational and occupational aspirations. The young women showed significantly higher educational aspiration, the same or higher occupational aspiration, and equal ranges of job choice. The results are discussed with respect to previous findings, and to status attainment models.     

Sex-related differences in the aspirations of high school students

The factors affecting the educational and occupational aspirations of male and female high school students are compared. The main difference seems to be the role of perceived opportunities in mediating antecedent effects on aspirations. Males' perceptions of what they can and are expected to attain are strongly influenced by their academic ability and achievement, while females' perceptions are influenced mainly by their social origins. Academic achievement has a crucial positive effect on the aspirations of both groups. While its effect on boys' aspirations is more pronounced, the process of schooling tends also to increase the confidence of able and high performing girls and motivate them toward high career attainment.     

Relative deprivation and educational aspirations of 15-year-old adolescents in Japan

Social Psychology of Education - Higher education increases the likelihood of a healthy and successful life. This study investigated the association between relative deprivation and aspiration for...     

Career aspirations of youth: Untangling race/ethnicity, SES, and gender

This study examined the influence of gender, socioeconomic status, and race/ethnicity on the career aspirations of over 22,000 8th and 10th grade youth. The top five occupations identified by youth as aspirations included artist, lawyer, musician, FBI agent, and actor/actress. Top occupations were also reported for each gender × socioeconomic status × race/ethnicity group. Aspirations were coded by social prestige level, minimum education requirements, and median salary. Results revealed significant main effects for socioeconomic status and race/ethnicity as well as significant interaction effects. Further, significant gender main effects and a significant gender × ethnicity interaction were found for occupational prestige and educational requirements.     

Managerial aspirations of high school seniors: A comparison of males and females

Empirical research in the past has indicated that young people are generally not oriented toward managerial careers and that females are less so than are males. However, the greater career orientation of today's students, recent changes in societal values, persistent attempts by women to obtain equality, and federal legislation expressly forbidding discrimination may have changed this situation by the late 1970s. A survey of 2112 high school seniors in the state of Alabama was conducted to investigate these issues. Results indicate that few high school seniors aspire to management careers and that sex continues to be a major discriminator. The “male managerial model” continues to be reinforced by the values and attitudes of society as reflected in its young people.     

A Durkheimian analysis of youth suicide: Canada, 1971 and 1981.

Durkheim hypothesized that suicide varies inversely with the extent of social integration in family, religious, political, and economic life. In this study I examine the relationship between three of these sources of social integration on young Canadians' (aged 15-29) suicide rate for 1971 and 1981: family integration (as measured by divorce), religious integration (as measured by the percent of the population reporting no religious affiliation), and economic anomie (unemployment). The findings of this research provide confirmation for the hypothesis that religious detachment among the young is associated with increased proneness to commit suicide. The effect of family dissolution was positive and significant for both young men and women in 1981 but not in 1971, giving partial confirmation for the family integration explanation of suicide. These results pertaining to unemployment are not consistent with the American-based literature that calls for a significant and positive impact on the odds of self-destruction.     

Drug use,educational aspirations,and work force involvement: The transition from adolescence to young adulthood

The impact of high school drug use and academic potential on high school outcome (graduate or dropout) and young adult work force involvement, college involvement, and educational aspirations was examined. Frequency of drug use, grade point average, and educational plans were assessed for 479 adolescents while in high school. Four years later this same group of individuals, now in their early 20s, reported their current level of drug use, present life involvement on a variety of measures, and whether they had ever graduated from high school. Results indicate that high school graduation is predicted from a lack of cigarette and hard drug use and the presence of high academic aspirations. Using latent variable causal models, it was found that high school Academic Potential and Drug Use were significantly correlated in a negative direction. Across-time analyses indicate that high school Academic Potential significantly predicted young adult Educational Aspirations, College Involvement, and college attendance. High school Drug Use significantly predicted young adult Drug Use, a lack of College Involvement, and increased Work Force Involvement. These results do not support a psychogenic hypothesis of drug use and academic potential but rather confirm an impaired abilities or general deviance interpretation.     

Vocational aspirations of Chinese high school students and their parents' expectations

This study examined the vocational aspirations and parental vocational expectations of high school students and their parents (1067 parent–child dyads). Participants completed a demographic questionnaire and an Occupations List. The Occupations List consisted of 126 occupational titles evenly distributed across the six Holland types. Parents were asked to check the occupations that they expected their children to pursue and students were asked to select occupations to which they aspired. The expectations of parents were compared to the aspirations of children according to the occupational field, prestige, and sextype of occupations. The expectation–aspiration gap was relatively small for occupational field, but the gap was larger for occupational prestige and sextype. There were also gender differences for both expectations (parents' expectation toward sons and daughters) and aspirations (aspirations of male and female students). Types of high school (key or regular high schools) and parental educational background also related to expectations and aspirations. Theoretical, research, and practice implications are discussed.     

Focusing on children and youth: The role of social capital in educational outcomes in the context of immigration and diversity

Social capital matters for young people, especially for immigrant and minority youth; however what counts as social capital for young people is poorly specified. This paper reviews recent studies on the influences of parents, communities and schools; then focuses on youth social networks that begin to reveal how young people form, develop and use social capital. In light of this knowledge base, we address social and educational policy-making, making suggestions for capacity building for future policy and research. We conclude with recommendations toward a model of social capital accumulation.     

The role of psychological control,socioeconomic status and academic achievement in parents' educational aspirations for their adolescent children

The present study examined the associations between mothers' and fathers' psychological control, socioeconomic status (SES) and their role in parents' educational aspirations for their adolescent children. Moreover, we examined to what extent SES and psychological control predicted their child's grade point average (GPA) and educational aspirations. A total of 1,034 Finnish adolescents aged 15 to 16 and their parents (720 mothers, 542 fathers) were surveyed at the beginning of the last grade of compulsory school. The results showed that the use of psychological control was more common among parents with lower SES. Moreover, the lower parents' SES was and the more psychological control they imposed, the lower were their educational aspirations for their adolescent children and lower was their child's GPA. The impact of SES was partially mediated by psychological control. The effects were similar for mothers and fathers.     

Attempted suicide in youth: Its relationship to school achievement,educational goals,and socioeconomic status

Twenty-six suicide attempters, 9 to 18 years of age, were compared with 725 nonattempters on measures of school achievement, educational goals, socioeconomic status, and depression. As has been found in studies using clinical samples, suicide attempters in our communitybased sample had significantly lower school achievement than nonattempters. The relationship between attempted suicide and low school achievement seemed to be explained by the effects of depression. Lower-SES youth tended to be more likely to attempt suicide than higher-SES youths. However, SES appeared to have little effect on the relationship between attempted suicide and school achievement. Results also suggest that children of mothers with low educational goals for them may be more at risk for attempted suicide than youths whose mothers have higher educational goals for their children.This research was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health, Grant No. MH36971.     

The architecture of high status among Finnish youth

We tested the construct validity of a two‐dimensional model of high status, consisting of social acceptance and perceived popularity (hereafter, acceptance and popularity) among Finnish children and adolescents. In addition, we investigated the correlates of the two forms of high status, as well as their relations to resource control. Participants were 563 boys and girls in grades four and eight, that is, aged 10–11 and 14–15. CFA and SEM models supported the hypothesis of acceptance and popularity representing distinct, yet associated constructs that have partly different correlates. Acceptance and popularity were most closely connected among grade four students, particularly among boys. Prosocial behaviour was associated with acceptance, whereas peer‐valued characteristics (physical attractiveness, athletic ability) and aggression were related especially to popularity. Popularity, but not acceptance, was positively related to resource control.     

Predicting occupational interests and choice aspirations in Portuguese high school students: A test of social cognitive career theory

The predictive utility of social cognitive career theory’s (SCCT) interest and choice models was examined in a sample of 600 Portuguese high school students. Participants completed measures of occupational self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interests, social supports and barriers, and choice consideration across the six Holland (1997) RIASEC types. The integrated interest-choice model fit the data well across Holland types and generally supported the hypotheses that self-efficacy and outcome expectations jointly predict interests, and that interests mediate the relations of self-efficacy and outcome expectations to choice consideration. Contrary to SCCT, however, social supports and barriers related to choice consideration indirectly, through self-efficacy, rather than directly. The implications of these findings for further research on the cross-cultural validity of SCCT are considered.     

Explaining consciousness: the hard problem

edited by Jonathan Shear, Bradford/MIT Press 1997. ￡33.95/$40.00 (vii+422 pages) ISBN 0 262 19388 4.     

Explaining the paradoxical rejection-aggression link: the mediating effects of hostile intent attributions, anger, and decreases in state self-esteem on peer rejection-induced aggression in youth

People are strongly motivated to feel accepted by others. Yet when faced with acute peer rejection they often aggress against the very peers they desire acceptance from, which may lead to further rejection. The present experiment tests three potential mediators of aggressive responses to acute peer rejection in the critical developmental stage of early adolescence. Participants (N=185, M(age)=11.5 years) completed personal profiles that were allegedly evaluated online by peers. After receiving negative or neutral peer feedback, participants could aggress against the same peers who had evaluated them. Rejected participants attributed more hostile intent to the peers, were angrier, showed a greater reduction in state self-esteem, and were more aggressive. Mediational analyses showed that hostile intent attributions mediated the acute peer rejection-aggression relationship, whereas increases in anger and decreases in state self-esteem did not. Thus, acute peer rejection evokes hostile intent attributions that, in turn, lead to aggressive reactions.     

Sex differences in the determination of adolescent aspirations: A review of research

This article reviews research on sex differences in the educational and occupational orientations of adolescents. Because the aspirations and expectations of adolescents are predictive of subsequent adult attainment, these variables are important mediating factors in the process by which individuals of the two sexes come to occupy different educational and occupational positions in adulthood. Adolescent boys aspire to a higher level of education than girls, and the occupational choices of the two sexes are highly sex-stereotyped. Factors influencing levels of adolescent aspiration are reviewed, including socioeconomic background, academic ability, number of siblings, parental encouragement, mother's employment, academic performance, peer aspirations, dating, and participation in school activities. Although sex differences exist in the process by which both educational and occupational aspirations are formed, they are greater with respect to occupational than educational aspirations.     

Resilient Factors in Mixed Orientation Couples: Current State of the Research

This paper reviews the existing literature on mixed orientation couples with the purpose of identifying some of the key characteristics and dynamics of these couples. Special attention is paid to understanding relationship quality, satisfaction, and the factors that help maintain their relationship. Current literature shows a mixed representation of relationship quality and satisfaction among these couples, with themes of specific factors that seem to predict this. An understanding of this literature can inform counseling practice, and specific recommendations are offered for providing counseling to this unique population.     

Explaining Math: Gesturing Lightens the Load

Why is it that people cannot keep their hands still when they talk? One reason may be that gesturing actually lightens cognitive load while a person is thinking of what to say. We asked adults and children to remember a list of letters or words while explaining how they solved a math problem. Both groups remembered significantly more items when they gestured during their math explanations than when they did not gesture. Gesturing appeared to save the speakers' cognitive resources on the explanation task, permitting the speakers to allocate more resources to the memory task. It is widely accepted that gesturing reflects a speaker's cognitive state, but our observations suggest that, by reducing cognitive load, gesturing may also play a role in shaping that state.