Studies regarding status aspirations among Mexican-American youth have presumed that life goals are integrated and congruent. An alternative line of inquiry is suggested which questions these assumptions and specifies types of conflicts that may arise among occupational, educational, and familial orientations. (Author)

A process model which included the influences of social origin, encouragement, and the formation of adolescent period attitudes as antecedents of early marital and fertility behavior was constructed and evaluated using three-wave panel data obtained from 176 nonmetropolitan females from selected Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and South Carolina high…