African American Adolescent Mothers' Vocational Aspiration–Expectation Gap: Individual, Social And Environmental Influences

This study investigated the vocational aspirations and expectations of 160 African American adolescent mothers living in urban poverty. Discriminant function analysis was used in an attempt to distinguish between participants with, and those without, a discrepancy between their vocational aspirations and expectations. The two groups were found to be distinct in several ways. Depressive and anxious symptoms along with childcare provided by relatives, were associated with a gap between aspirations and expectations. Higher grade point averages, living with biological parents, and having a career mentor were more often associated with a match between expectations and aspirations. A combination of factors, including psychological functioning, social support, achievement, and contextual factors specific to the tasks of teen parenting, should be considered in future attempts to understand and describe adolescent mothers' vocational development.     

Two Portraits of the Humean Moral Agent

Among contemporary ethicists, Hume is perhaps best known for his views about morality's practical import and his spectator–centered account of moral evaluation. Yet according to the so–called "spectator complaint", these two aspects of Hume's moral theory cannot be reconciled with one another. I argue that the answer to the spectator complaint lies in Hume's account of "goodness" and "greatness of mind". Through a discussion of these two virtues, Hume makes clear the connection between his views about moral motivation and his understanding of moral evaluation by providing us with two portraits of the Humean moral agent.