Funded Research
The Role of Career Aspirations and Educational Expectations in the Process of Socioeconomic Attainment: Evidence from Two Recent Cohorts of Youth
Source: Johann Jacobs Foundation
Active: 09/01/2007 - 08/31/2008
Investigator(s):
Jeremy Staff
Angel L. Harris
Ricardo Sabates
The proposed research plan will be based on two major sources of data collection in the United States and the United Kingdom. We will draw on longitudinal data from the National Education Longitudinal Study (U.S. Department of Education, 2002) and the British Cohort Survey (CLS, 2007). These data sources are ideal for our research aims because they include longitudinal information on the ambitions, school-related behaviors, and longer-term attainments of nationally representative samples of contemporary youths in the U.S. and U.K. Our analyses focus on how early aspirations and expectations affect both college entry and the receipt of a college degree because many youth enter post-secondary institutions but most do not earn degrees. In addition, college dropouts arguably are in one of the worst positions during the school-to-work transition; not only have their original educational plans failed, but also they tend to have no immediate plans for work (Rosenbaum, 2001). We also consider how early aspirations and expectations affect wage attainments and unemployment in adulthood, and whether the effect of early ambitions on socioeconomic attainment varies by population subgroups. These features provide us with a strong basis for examining how early aspirations and expectations shape the transition from school to work and longer-term socioeconomic attainment.
