Poster #6 - How Much Schooling Is Needed? Hispanic Youth's Educational Aspirations and Their Occupational Aspiration's Educational Requirement

• In Event: 63.088 - MTCC Poster Session 14
  In Poster Session: 63.088-1 - Human Development 2

Abstract

The misalignment of Hispanic youth’s high academic aspirations with relatively low educational attainment needs to be better understood. One often overlooked aspect of the aspiration literature concerns knowledge of requirements associated with specific occupations. Thus, we examine relations between Hispanic students’ educational aspirations and the necessary educational requirements of their occupational aspirations. Considering their socio-demographic background, Hispanic females endorse higher educational aspirations and aspire to occupations with higher educational requirements. Both aspirations also decrease with developmental maturity and experience. Furthermore, modest congruence of educational aspirations and the educational requirement of aspired occupations imply that students’ construction of vocational plans reflects imperfect information about labor market requirements. How Hispanic youth’s educational aspirations materialize into educational and vocational choices requires further research.

Authors

• Nayssan Safavian, University of California - Irvine

• Anna-Lena Dicke, University of California, Irvine

• Stuart A. Karabenick, University of Michigan

• Jacquelynne Eccles, University of California - Irvine