Family Structure Variables as Predictors of Educational and Vocational Aspirations of High School Seniors.

The exrsting research on student aspirations has examined a broad array of variables. Many of the studies have been conducted with high school students as samples, with a few longitudinal studies following their samples into early adulthood. Rural-urban, socioeconomic, gender and race differences have been explored. The purpose of this paper was to explore, with a nationally representative data base, the effects of family structure variables on the educational and vocational aspiration of high school students. While there was a relative abundance of research on adolescents' aspirations in the 1960's and early 1970's, there was a paucity of research on this subject in the later 1970's and 1980's. More recently there has been a revival of interest (McIntire, Cobb and Pratt, 1986; MacBrayne, 1987; Odell, 1988, 1989). The research has generally differentiated between student aspirations and expectations. Aspirations are most often defined as an individual's desire to obtain status objectives or goals such as a particular occupation or level of education. Expectations are the individual's estimation of the likelihood of attaining those goals, plans, ambitions or dreams. These are terms of Kuvlesky and Bealer (1966) who attempted to define occupational choice in terms of individual aspirations or preferences concerning work status. A few studies have compared aspirations and expectations to attainment, defined as a behavioral realization of a goal. The traditional literature has indicated that aspirations of youth are higher than their expectations. Studies which have examined these variables longitudinally have found that although expectations generally decline with age, aspirations remain high. For example, Boyd, Farris and Shoffner (1984) examined occupational aspirations of a sample of low-income, southern rural youth adults over three time periods which were assumed to approximate the three developmental states suggested by Ginzberg (1951): fantasy, tentative, and realism. Over time, aspirations declined only slightly while occupational expectations declined dramatically for each time period. Their study raised the question of why young adults continue to dream dreams that they never expect to fulfill. Kuvlesky's (1970) work suggested that aspirations do not become significantly more realistic with maturation, at least within the time-frame of high school, contrary to Ginzberg's theory. Sollie and Lightsey (1975) reported that aspirations of students increased from 1966 (as tenth graders) to 1972 when they had achieved full-time employment status and expectations during this time period decreased. Both aspirations and expectations were substantially higher than actual occupational attainment. Neither race, sex nor residence (small city, small town, rural farm or rural nonfarm) altered the nature of the relationship. Costy (1978) reported that rural youth, when examined as adults, showed stability in occupational aspirations, decline in occupational expectations, and increases in educational aspirations. He suggested that educational attainment in early adulthood was influenced by career preferences developed during high school years. Yoesting, Beal and Bohlen (1969) examined a sample of 143 males and females from eight rural high schools in Iowa as seniors in 1948, and again in 1956 and 1967. Significant relationships between occupational aspirations of the youth and their mothers' educational aspirations and attainment were found. No relationships were found for residential or socioeconomic background, father's education or occupation or the frequency of discussion of future plans with parents. Significant relationships were found between occupations attained by the young adults and their socioeconomic backgrounds, educational attainment, and father's and mother's education. Greater proportions of males than females attained the occupations they had aspired to as seniors in high school. However, greater proportions of females got additional education beyond high school. Dunkelberger and Sind (1975) examined patterns of attainment of young adults. Although