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Parental Aspirations for Their Children’s Educational Attainment: Relations to Ethnicity, Parental Education, Children’s Academic Performance, and Parental Perceptions of School Climate

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Abstract

This study examined parental aspirations for their children’s educational attainment in relation to ethnicity (African American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic), parental education, children’s academic performance, and parental perceptions of the quality and climate of their children’s school with a sample of 13,577 middle and high school parents. All parents had relatively high educational aspirations for their children, and within each ethnic subgroup, parental education and children’s academic performance were significantly and positively related to parental aspirations. However, moderating effects were found such that Caucasian parents with lower levels of education had significantly lower educational aspirations for their children than did parents of other ethnicities with similar low levels of education. Although the strength of the relationship between parental perceptions of school-related factors and parental aspirations for their children’s educational attainment was not strong, it was most predictive of non-Caucasian parental aspirations for their children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Applied Organizational Research, ICF International, 9300 Lee Highway, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Christopher Spera

  2. Department of Human Development, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Kathryn R. Wentzel

  3. School of Social Work, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

    Holly C. Matto

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  1. Christopher Spera
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  2. Kathryn R. Wentzel
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  3. Holly C. Matto
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Correspondence to Christopher Spera.

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Spera, C., Wentzel, K.R. & Matto, H.C. Parental Aspirations for Their Children’s Educational Attainment: Relations to Ethnicity, Parental Education, Children’s Academic Performance, and Parental Perceptions of School Climate. J Youth Adolescence 38, 1140–1152 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-008-9314-7

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