Intergenerational Alignment of Educational Expectation, Parental Social Closure, and American Adolescents' College Access

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 1
  In Poster Session: Division J Poster Session: College Student Access

Abstract

In this study, I examine the associations between different level of intergenerational alignment of educational expectation and adolescent's college access. I also investigate whether parents' higher engagement in social closure will help their children to obtain college admission. Data is from 11,402 American adolescents in the Educational Longitudinal Study (ELS:2002). The results reveal that adolescents who share a high-level agreement of expectation (i.e., expect to obtain a bachelor's degree or above) with their parents are more likely to attend colleges. A closer parental social closure can also help adolescents to achieve their goal of college attendance. Under the college-going climate, these findings offer a new clue to explain who is more likely to enter postsecondary education and where they go.

Author

• Shuyi Zhao, University at Buffalo - SUNY