Background/Context: For the last 40 years, researchers have posited competing theories regarding the relative influence of social class background and racial-group membership on the school experiences, academic performance, behavior, and motivation of ethnic minority students. The general purpose of these competing theories has been to explain why…

Results of this study indicate that the world views of Mexican Americans, blacks, and whites, and their educational and occupational aspirations for their children became more like each other between 1960 and 1971. (Author/AM)

Mexican-American and European-American high school juniors and seniors (n=1,139) identified perceived barriers to their academic and career goals. Females anticipated more barriers than males, particularly sex discrimination. Mexican-Americans perceived more barriers than European-Americans, both sex and ethnic discrimination. (SK)

A pre-tested schedule was used in interviewing 187 fourth, fifth, and sixth grade working-class pupils from a West Coast community with a population of 95,000. The Sample included 6, Negroes, 74 Mexican Americans, and 45 Caucasians. (JM)

Administered to Mexican American high school students in Texas, this 287-item questionnaire was used to survey their attitudes, program at school, and plans for the future. Almost all of the questions consist of circling a number or checking one or more answers. A few require written answers. Topics covered by the questions are: the student's…

Studies of levels of aspiration have made some important contributions to the understanding of the relationship between social structure and personality. In this type of study, however, minority groups have almost been neglected. The present study was designed to investigate the differentials in levels of occupational and educational aspiration of…

Mexican American and Anglo 11th grade high school students from lower and middle socioeconomic classes were compared using the locus of control, adequate achievement reality, and temporal orientations as potential correlates of scholastic performance and future education and vocational goals. The sample of 89 male and 87 female students from 3…

The purpose of this study was to make a comprehensive survey of the educational and occupational aspirations and expectations of high school sophomores and seniors in the El Paso and Ysleta school districts (El Paso, Texas). Group-administered questionnaires were used to obtain the information from the 590 randomly sampled students (5% of the…

Situational obstacles stemming from cultural and economic circumstances (migrant status, time away from school for work, etc.) were observed to have at least as much influence on the Mexican American child's educational and occupational aspirations as the more commonly stressed family interaction variables such as parental aspiration and emphasis…

Historical change in occupational and educational status projections of Texas rural Mexican American teenage boys and girls between 1967 and 1973 were examined. The study determined the nature and extent of historical change patterns occurring among these youth in reference to the following dimensions of occupational and educational status…

The study surveyed the educational and occupational status orientations of 914 Anglo, Black, and Mexican American high school sophomores and seniors in Galveston, Texas. Responses were compared by sex, age, ethnicity, grade level, and school program in which enrolled (general, academic, or vocational). A 4-way analysis of variance procedure using…

The study investigated whether Mexican American male and female migrants differed from Mexican American male and female non-migrants in reference to: level and type of occupational and educational aspirations and expectations; projected age of marriage and procreation; and valuation of life goals. Using data gathered in a 1973 survey of Mexican…

One of a series on selected topics, this bibliography of resource materials and research findings is drawn from ERIC documents; the 42 citations on rural youth cover expectations and aspirations about education, occupation, residence, marriage, and procreation (several are historical change studies), and focus on such influences as race, sex,…

Based on comparative data from two 1973 studies, this study examined whether or not the occupational and educational status projections and language usage patterns of Mexican American teenagers living in a large metropolitan area differed from those of teenagers living in isolated, relatively small nonmetropolitan places. The two separate, but…

The relationship among key social/psychological variables (self-esteem, locus of control, social isolation, perceptions of role models) and achievement among migrant children was examined, using December 1980 data obtained from 1,004 seventh grade students (515 males/489 females) from a large school district in Hidalgo County in the Texas Lower…