A structural model predicting the educational and career expectations of 282 Mexican American high school girls was developed and tested. Predictors included socioeconomic status, acculturation, academic achievement, instrumentality, expressiveness, gender role attitudes, parental and teacher support, family and career commitment, and perceptions…

Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, this study found that high school seniors with learning disabilities held lower aspirations than peers for both educational and occupational outcomes. No practical gender differences were found for students with learning disabilities. (DB)

A study of adolescents (210 in college prep and 164 in vocational education) indicated that 85% of college prep and 41.5% of vocational students desired professional jobs; vocational students expected their jobs would have lower status; males were less likely to believe they would attain bachelor's degrees and more likely to pursue other…

This developmental study focused on the process of youth as they make the difficult transition into the labor market of Newfoundland and Labrador. The project consists of two parallel yet interrelated studies, one focusing on the full cohort of over 9000 Level III high school students at the end of the 1988-89 school year, and a second, which…

Based on the evidence and theory that sex-role differentiation increases in salience during those later high school years as students prepare for their imminent transition into young adulthood, it was anticipated that there would be a lower orientation toward achievement among grade 12 girls than grade 10 girls, and, possibly, the opposite for…

HIGH SCHOOL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS WERE ANALYZED AND COMPARED TO DETERMINE THEIR EFFECT ON STUDENT NEEDS, SATISFACTIONS, VALUES, AND ASPIRATIONS. THE MEASURES ADMINISTERED TO 2,933 SENIORS OF 11 HIGH SCHOOLS IN AN URBAN AREA OF NEW YORK STATE WERE THE HIGH SCHOOL CHARACTERISTICS INDEX (HSCI), THE STERN ACTIVITIES INDEX (SAI), AND A SPECIALLY…

Post high school expectancies of high school students were compared to their high school grades in a longitudinal study. The results clearly indicate that the causal ordering is from grades to expectancies, rather than the reverse. (Author/JKS)

Combined data from Coleman's 1961 Adolescent Society survey and 15-year follow-up study of early status attainment of respondents. Found parents' effects on children's educational aspirations and attainments due to modeling and defining influences. Defining effects exceeded modeling effects in strength; proportion of parental influence due to…

Although 76% of African-American students graduate from high school, only 25% of these graduates enter institutions of higher education. A systematic analysis of the aspirations among African-American females for post-high-school education was conducted. Initial portions of the study focused on characteristics of support in the areas of familial…

Performance differences between two trials of two tasks indicated that students who learned during the second trial that they were being evaluated (high evaluation condition) demonstrated greater debilitation on anagrams and greater improvement on the visual motor task than low evaluation condition subjects. Evaluation condition influenced girls'…

Compared the mathematics attitudes of ninth grade girls of similar intellect who subsequently took 1 to 4 years of college preparatory math in 1975 and 1978 (N=84). Math enrollment groups differed significantly. From Grade 9 to 12, scores on the Attitude toward Success in Math Scale became significantly more positive. (Author/JAC)

Females had significantly higher attitude and competency scores on the Abbreviated Career Maturity Inventory, completed by 114 female and 187 male African-American high school students. Educational plans were consistent with occupational expectations; 90% females and 74% males preferred careers requiring degrees, and 89% females and 86% males…

Two Baltimore, Maryland, institutions, Northwestern High School and Towson State University, formed a partnership to open university resources to the high school and to encourage teenagers to reconsider their opportunities. (MLF)

Examined career aspirations of gifted high school juniors (n=194). Administered Occupations List to obtain information about career alternatives considered at various ages. Career alternatives considered in early life period were compared with those considered later in terms of prestige and gender traditionality. Results suggest that gifted…

This handbook is a year-by-year planning guide to college preparatory activities for high school students and it begins with the 9th grade. These topics are included: (1) introduction to planning and the decision-making process; (2) educational and occupational alternatives; (3) considerations in choosing a college; (4) types of academic…