The authors investigated differences in college-going expectations of middle school students who would be the 1st in their families to attend college. Social-cognitive career theory (SCCT; R. W. Lent, S. D. Brown, & G. Hackett, 1994) was used to examine college-related expectations in 272 seventh-grade students. Differences were found between…

Given the theoretical complexity of the processes underlying achievement, it is not surprising to find limited investigation of the relationships between maternal employment and adolescent academic performance. The High School and Beyond 1980 sophomores data was used to assess the impact of maternal employment on seven latent variables: number of…

Examined the influence of ethnic status, parent values, and parent perceptions and aspirations regarding their children's chances for future occupational opportunity. Specific attention was paid to the influence which Black and Mexican American mothers' perceptions have on children's aspirations. A causal model is analyzed. (Author/DB)

This study tested an integrative longitudinal model of the early schooling process on three first-grade outcomes for 1,539 poor urban ethnic minority children (1,470 Black; 69 Hispanic). The model views educational attainment as a function of readiness characteristics upon entry into kindergarten and intervening kindergarten and first-grade…

Characteristics and attendance patterns of persisters and dropouts from college and vocational/technical schools were studied, and a model of the persistence process was tested using data from the National Longitudinal Study (NLS), which surveyed high school seniors in 1972, with followup surveys in 1973 and 1974. Student persistence was defined…

A theoretical model based on path analytic logic was used to examine the relative influences of social origin and significant other influences on marital, fertility, and educational plans. Parents' education and the major family income-earner's occupation were used as measures of social origin; perceived encouragement by parents, teachers,…