Poster #33 - Alignment of Educational and Occupational Expectations and Effect on Educational Attainment

• In Event: 75.043 - MTCC Poster Session 17
  In Poster Session: 75.043-7 - Human Development 1

Abstract

In the past two decades, gap between educational and occupational expectations and the negative effects of the misalignment of educational and occupational expectations on educational attainment started to be noticed by researchers. Using samples from Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, this study identified different degrees of alignment of educational and occupational expectations and examined the effects of alignment on educational attainment. This study found that adolescents with expectations to achieve a bachelor’s degree and being employed by a professional job achieved the highest average educational accomplishment. The relationship between the alignment of expectations and educational attainment differed for students with different achievement levels. Adolescents who highly valued the importance of education are less likely to change the degree of alignment.

Author

• Dongwei Wang, University of Massachusetts - Amherst