High School Future Aspirations and Expectations: Sociocultural Context and Early Adult Education and Work Status

• In Event: 2-042 - Adolescent Future Expectations and Aspirations, Adult Outcomes, and the Influence of Gender and Sociocultural Context

Integrative Statement

In adolescence, youth begin to form expectations and goals for their future. Future aspirations and expectations influence and are influenced by youths’ interactions with contexts like school, family, and community. The rural adolescents in this study formed their future aspirations and expectations within the context of economic decline resulting from the Great Recession, but also from earlier closures of paper and pulp mills. Male-dominated jobs were disproportionately impacted. Rural youth are underrepresented in education research, limiting our understanding of how sociocultural context impacts adolescents’ future and their transition to adult roles. This study investigates gender differences in future education and job aspirations and expectations, associations with high school experiences, and post-high school education and job status.

Method. Two cohorts of youth in one economically-vulnerable rural New England county were studied from 2008 until 2018. University IRB and school officials approved passive parental consent procedures. Wave 1 data were collected from all 7th and 11th grade public school classrooms using questionnaires administered by research personnel. Questionnaires moved online once participants were post-high school. Analyses combined cohorts (N = 617, 55% female). Forty-seven percent of fathers and 34% of mothers completed high school or less education, while 16% of fathers and 25% of mothers completed college. Reflecting the region, 92% of students were non-Hispanic white.

Results. Latent class analysis (LCA) used six-items: how important it is for you to graduate from high school, finish college, have a successful career and how likely is it that you will graduate from high school, finish college, have a successful career to identify classes of future orientation in 12th grade. Four patterns were found: (a) “universally high”- high aspirations and expectations for education and job (67%); (b) “low college” - high aspirations and expectations about completing high school and future jobs, but low aspirations and expectations about college (8%); (c) “higher aspirations than expectations” - higher education and job aspirations compared to expectations (22%); and (d) “universally low”- low future aspirations and expectations across domains (3%). Classes differed significantly by gender (see Table 1) and parent education, but not cohort. Males were significantly more likely to be in the “low college” and “universally low” groups. Females and students whose parents had more education were significantly more likely to be in the “universally high” group.

Accounting for gender and parent education, grades and school belongingness, but not breadth of activity participation, from the time point prior to 12th grade predicted future orientation in 12th grade. Twelfth grade future orientation classes accounted for significant differences in actual education and job status 2 years later (see Table 2). Respondents in the “universally high” group were more likely to be in school full-time, while those in the “low college” and “universally low” groups, consisting mainly of males, were more likely to not be in school or working. The “low college” group was most likely to report working full-time. Discussion will focus on how gender might interact with other factors that shape how adolescents conceptualize their futures in rural communities.

Authors

• Erin Hiley Sharp, University of New Hampshire
  Presenting Author

• Jayson O Seaman, University of New Hampshire
  Non-Presenting Author

• Corinna Tucker, UNH
  Non-Presenting Author

• Karen Van Gundy, University of New Hampshire
  Non-Presenting Author

• Rebellon Cesar, University of New Hampshire
  Non-Presenting Author