Conventional wisdom suggests that parents' educational expectations (how far they expect their children to go) and aspirations (how far they want their children to go) positively impact academic outcomes and benefits from attending high-ability schools. However, here we juxtapose the following: largely positive effects of educational expectations…

This study investigated the development of educational aspirations (EAs) among Chinese youth (n = 2228, 48.61% female, 87.66% Han, M[subscript age_2010] = 11.48 years) for 6 years. Five latent classes of EA trajectories were identified. They varied greatly during early adolescence but converged around an associate degree in middle adolescence and…

Hope for the future provides a protective factor against mental health disorders and contributes to students' academic success and wellbeing. We investigated whether a school's climate influenced students' prosocial moral identity and hope for the future to understand better how church-based schools might improve these important outcomes. Data…

In England, there has been a shift away from 'aspiration raising' in widening participation (WP) activities aimed at improving access to higher education (HE) for students from low socio-economic status groups. This shift is partly based on the notion that students from these groups do not inherently "aim lower" However, understanding…

Research investigating occupational aspirations in childhood is scarce. In addition, most research on occupational aspirations has focused on increasing the number of women in agentic jobs. In the present work, we investigate factors associated with communal occupational aspirations in two studies with young children (Study 1: 159 children [84…

Context: Adolescence is the training ground for adult life. In a relatively short period, the adolescent will undergo a metamorphosis. During the high school years, the majority of adolescents move from persistent dependence to true independence, from logical thinking to abstract, complex and hypothetical thinking, from impulsivity to…

Problem: Several studies have examined the prediction of calling in college students, but no known study has focused primarily on the development of vocational calling among the vulnerable population of first-generation college students who have a higher drop-out rate than their peers. Examining the composition of vocational calling in…

According to previous theories and studies, interest and self-concept at an early age have played a pivotal role in occupational choices, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. However, a causal relationship between interest, self-concept, and aspirations in science is still under debate. In addition, few…

This longitudinal study (N = 540, grades 7 and 8) was conducted over 2 years (four measurement points) with a perceptual construct questionnaire and access to students' report cards. The changes in interest, self-concept, and the intention to pursue studies and a career in science and technology were explored as well as the reciprocal causal links…

Although postsecondary STEM outcomes for students with disabilities are poorly understood, literature exploring this problem is quite sparse. We examined the career aspirations of high school students by modeling the likelihood of students with individualized education programs (IEPs) aspiring to STEM careers. Results demonstrated no differences…

Within the last two decades, research on entrepreneurship has received increasing attention throughout the world. However, most of the research in this area has been done in business and vocational fields and more research is needed in educational and non-business contexts. This study took the initiative to explore the connections among…

Academic misconduct has been conceptualized as students' engagement in various types of proscribed behaviors, such as plagiarism and cheating on assignments and tests or exams (e.g., Stephens et al., 2021). While most of the current literature on academic misconduct has focused on developed countries, the problem is rampant across the world (Krou…

This study examines a sample of African American students attending urban middle schools in a Southern city, and considers their perceptions of learning environments within mathematics classrooms. This study concluded that variables like Academic Self-Concept, Mathematics Anxiety, Satisfaction, Involvement, and Academic Aspiration varied…

Many countries desire more students to study science subjects, although relatively few students decide to study non-compulsory physics at upper-secondary school and at university. To gain insight into students' intentions to study non-compulsory physics, a longitudinal sample (covering 2258 students across 88 secondary schools in England) was…

In this paper, we examine the relationship between participants' childhood science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) related experiences, their STEM identity (i.e., seeing oneself as a STEM person), and their college career intentions. Whereas some evidence supports the importance of childhood (i.e., K-4) informal STEM education…