The primary objective of this study was to develop empirical generalizations regarding occupational status projections of non-metropolitan Southern youth. Using a standardized survey instrument, data were collected (1966 and 1967) from 5 Southern states (Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas). The sample consisted of approximately 3,000 black and white, male and female, high school sophomores. Main analysis focused on association between occupational status projections and the respondents' socioeconomic status. Questionnaires designed to elicit response relative to occupational expectation, anticipatory deflection, intensity of aspiration, certainty of expectation, and socioeconomic status were administered, as part of a larger study, by each state. Although there was a decline in occupational level from aspirations to expectations, the majority of respondents did not anticipate downward deflection from their aspirations. Socioeconomic status was found to be positively associated with both aspirations and expectations and negatively associated with anticipatory deflection, and differences between the sexes were found to be greater than differences between the races. For each race-sex category of respondents, the majority aspired to and expected relatively high status occupations. (JC)