This paper presents the phenomenon of the private universities that have emerged in our country during the nineties. This increase of alternatives to access to higher education has generated a sense of significant progress in terms of social mobility opportunities for middle class youth. However, we point that this quantitative increase has caused rather a very strong professional market segmentation. That is, it has not reduced educational gaps / on the contrary, it has probably increased them. In search of items that hold this idea, we propose to develop a profile of the young people attending the Private University César Vallejo, based on a comparison of some aspects about supply and demand. / La investigación aborda el fenómeno de las universidades privadas surgidas en nuestro país durante la década de 1990. Este incremento de alternativas para acceder a la educación superior ha generado un sentido común de avance significativo en cuanto a las oportunidades de movilidad social para los jóvenes de clase media. Sin embargo, observamos que este incremento cuantitativo ha ocasionado más bien una segmentación muy marcada del mercado profesional. Es decir, no ha reducido las brechas educativas, sino que probablemente las ha incrementado. En la búsqueda de elementos que sostengan esta idea, proponemos elaborar un perfil de los jóvenes que acuden a la Universidad Privada César Vallejo, a partir de una comparación entre algunos aspectos de oferta y demanda.

abstract: In recent years, women have made significant advances in traditionally male occupations. Despite this progress, women are still underrepresented in many science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. Social cognitive career theory (SCCT) and the model of Achievement Related Choices are two widely accepted career development theories. Both theories highlight the importance of self-efficacy and personal factors in career development; yet, neither of them has considered the predictive power of a specific outcome expectation, anticipated work family conflict (AWFC), in relation to the career development of men and women in STEM undergraduate programs. The purpose of this study was to assess the incremental validity of AWFC over and above that of self-efficacy and role salience, in predicting educational and occupational aspirations of undergraduate students in STEM programs at a large southwestern university. The study provides evidence that the factor structure of the AWFC scale does not hold up with the undergraduate population, and this finding was seen as reason to combine the AWFC subscales into one composite score. In a hierarchical multiple regression higher levels of STEM self-efficacy predicted higher intentions to persist in STEM. Role salience, AWFC, and the gender-AWFC interaction were not significantly related to intentions to persist. Although the study does not provide evidence for the incremental validity of AWFC, it does suggest that work-family balance considerations that have been observed in mature STEM populations may not yet be salient for students at the undergraduate level. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Counseling Psychology 2014

During November and December 2007 a Minor Field Study was conducted in the southwest of Sri Lanka with the aim of exploring the aspirations and perceptions of freedom and possibilities among a sample of Sri Lankan youth and also how their situation is viewed upon by people in their close surroundings. The aim was also try to discern the main concerns and indicators of unfreedom that in the eye of the informants are viewed as obstacles to development, to personal human development as well as to the development of Sri Lanka as a nation. The theoretical framework that was used as inspirational ground and basis for the formulation of the project, was Amartya Sen’s concept of “development as freedom” and his “capability approach” which focuses on the human potential and what freedom an individual enjoys to convert capabilities into desired functionings or the realization of aspirations. This modern economic theory was tested in this context to find out if it is applicable and relevant in ethnographic development studies. Despite its lack of numerical metrics, the “capability approach” seems very relevant to describe the reality of at least the Lankese youth in this study. As methodology for the qualitative field work, Hadley Cantril’s “aspiration-model” and his “self-anchoring striving scale” was used which provides a simple, easily applicable interview technique for exploring the unique reality of an individual and what it shares or don’t shares with that of others. The results show that there are many strong aspirations among the Sri Lankan youth; aspirations of being a good person that achieve something in life, aspirations of being able to take the best care of the family, to go through a qualitative education and to get a good job with a good salary. Many youth want to go abroad. Of course there are aspirations of peace in the war-torn country. There are concerns and feelings of unfreedom that relate to the unemployment situation, a very difficult economic situation in the country, underdevelopment and inadequate facilities, the ongoing war, and political unfreedom.

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Self-Determination Theory is a theory of motivation that aims to explain individuals' goal directed behaviour. Grade 11 learners are naturally in a stage of pursuing certain life goals and aspirations in the process of completing their schooling careers. Often the circumstances or environment provide the opportunities for individuals to be motivated towards aspiring to their life goals. Parents are key role players in either enhancing or hindering the motivation for children to be goal directed. This study examined the association of parenting practices and styles on the identification of goals and aspirations of Grade 11 learners in secondary schools in the Metro South region of the Western Cape. The objectives were to determine: (1) the content of the goals and aspirations of Grade 11 learners, (2) the perceived parental styles and practices of their parents and (3) the relationship between (1) and (2). A quantitative research method with a cross-sectional correlation design was used. The Parental Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire and the Aspiration Index were the instruments for collecting the data. The final sample consisted of 257 participants of which 155 (60.3%) were females. The mean age was 17.3 years. The results suggest that the maternal parenting was more prevalent than paternal parenting. Maternal and paternal authoritative parentings were significantly positively related to both intrinsic and extrinsic goals and aspirations whereas maternal and paternal permissive parentings were significantly positively related to only extrinsic goals. The study showed that the participants are inclined towards intrinsic goal pursuits. Furthermore, maternal parenting was a significant predictor of both intrinsic and extrinsic goals and aspirations and both parents predicted a stronger association.

This thesis consists of three self-contained essays on childhood disadvantage and its consequences in Sweden. A Longitudinal Look at Child Poverty Using Both Monetary and Non-monetary Approaches. In this paper, we broaden the analysis of child poverty by using both monetary and non-monetary measures of poverty and by comparing these over time. We use a composite of questionnaire answers from children regarding possession of socially perceived necessities and participation in social activities to develop two non-monetary child-centric concepts of disadvantage: material deprivation and social exclusion. The empirical analysis is based on two cross-sections and a panel of children in the Swedish Level-of-Living Survey matched with parental survey data and administrative income records. Consistent with previous findings, we find that relative income poverty among children increases significantly between the year 2000 and 2010. The fraction of children that is disadvantaged in two dimensions, monetary and non-monetary, is relatively small (0.9–7.0 percent) but increases significantly during the period of study. The modest size of the overlap suggests that our measures capture different dimensions of disadvantage, thereby pointing to the importance of alternative poverty indicators. We also find that income status in childhood is the best predictor of socio-economic outcomes in young adulthood. The Aspirations-attainment Paradox of Immigrant Children: A Social Networks Approach. Using two independent and nationally representative samples of Swedish children, I compare the university aspirations and expectations between children of immigrants and children of natives. In line with existing findings, I find that children with foreign-born parents have significantly higher aspirations and expectations than their native-majority peers with and without conditioning on school performance, academic potential and friendship networks. I do not find any evidence of a significant immigrant-non-immigrant aspirations-expectations gap; immigrant children's aspirations and expectations are not less aligned than those of their native-majority peers. This result suggests that immigrant-native disparities in school outcomes are not driven by an aspirations-expectations gap. Finally, the results reveal significant gender differences. Native-majority girls with academic potential are, for example, more likely to express an aspirations-expectations gap. Moreover, having only female friends makes one less likely to belong to the aforementioned category. The Key Player in Disruptive Behavior: Whom Should We Target to Improve the Classroom Learning Environment? In this paper, I address the question: Who is the individual that exerts the greatest negative influence on the classroom learning environment? To answer this question, I invoke the key player model from network economics and use self-reported friendship data in order to solve the methodological problems associated with identifying and estimating peer effects. I overcome the issue of endogenous group formation by using the control function approach where I simultaneously estimate network formation and outcomes. The results show that the typical key player scores well on language and cognitive ability tests and is not more likely to be a boy than a girl. I also find evidence that removing the key player has a significantly larger effect on aggregate disruptiveness in a network than removing the most disruptive individual, implying that policy aimed at the most active individual could be inadequate.

While the field of career psychology has shifted its attention to the study of career development, the developmental stage of childhood has often been neglected. Similarly, there is an absence of career research of a longitudinal nature, despite consistent calls to focus more on longitudinal methods when studying career development. The present study forms part of an existing longitudinal project which investigates the career development of South African children. This study, initiated in 1998, attempts to explore the occupational aspirations and gender stereotypes of a group of 39 children in the Nelson Mandela Metropole. The results from this study will provide much needed baseline information on how South African children become aware of careers, as well as provide useful suggestions on how to develop career education syllabi, particularly within the Life Orientation curriculum. The present study aims to explore and describe the changes that may occur in the participants’ occupational aspiration interest typology, status levels, and gender stereotypes over a five year period. Both developmental and career developmental theories were used to provide a theoretical context from which the participants’ career development could be explored. The study is quantitative in nature as it made use of semi-structured interviews and a biographical questionnaire in order to quantitatively transcribe the data. The questionnaire consisted of four broad questions which asked for information regarding the participants’ occupational aspirations, how much information the participants had about the chosen occupation, the number of occupations the participants knew about, and the extent to which the participants held gender stereotypes regarding fourteen different occupations. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the findings of the data which had been coded according to Holland’s typology of occupations. In addition, content analysis was performed to elicit themes regarding the participants’ own reflections on their career development. Results from the data analysis revealed that the majority of participants aspired to Social type occupations throughout the five years under study. Furthermore, most participants consistently aspired to high status occupations throughout the five years. Similar results were found for girls and boys. The results also demonstrated that the participants’ gender stereotypes tended to decrease over time, particularly as their occupational information increased. Lastly, most children were able to reflect on their career development and attributed changes in their occupational aspirations to changes in their interests. The results from this study offer insight into the development of occupational aspirations and perceptions of South African children which can be used as a foundation for future research and which should be valuable in the development of relevant career education programmes for South African schools.

Research has indicated that balancing work and family is on the minds of college-age women long before they are married. At the same time, women continue to choose occupations that do not fully utilize their abilities and often fail to follow their original career goals. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of perceived career barriers and supports on young women's career planning. Utilizing Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) and recent literature as a basis, this study conceptualized career goals using the two constructs career salience and career aspirations. Based on information garnered in this student's thesis and on studies examining pathways in the SCCT model, the current study used a hierarchical regression model and hypothesized that barriers related to work and family conflict and sex discrimination would have the most impact on the career aspirations and career salience of young women. Career supports were hypothesized to add significantly to the prediction of these variables, and coping self-efficacy for these types of barriers were hypothesized to depend on the level of these types of barriers perceived and the interaction effect was in turn expected to add significantly to the prediction of career aspirations and career salience. None of the hypotheses were supported in predicting career salience. Career aspirations were found to be predicted by barriers other than those hypothesized, career supports were found to add significant variance, and coping self-efficacy for work and family conflict was found to have a unique, unpredicted relationship with career aspirations. Implications of the findings are discussed as are suggestions for directions of new research utilizing SCCT.

The purpose of this study was to examine family influences on career development and aspirations of young adults. Theories and research have examined the influence parents have on children's career development, but because of the multiple factors that influence career choices, understanding the family's influence is complex. The current study utilized ideas from self-determination, attachment, and career development theories to develop a framework for understanding how families influence young adult career development and aspirations. Rather than directly influencing career decisions, the family was proposed to influence processes within individuals that directly influence successful career development. This study used hierarchical regression analyses to test whether different aspects of family relationships and the family environment affect processes within young people, which in turn influence career development. A sample of 99 female and 34 male undergraduate students between 18 and 20 (mean age 18.67) completed questionnaires. Results support the idea that different aspects of the family influence diverse factors of career development and future aspirations. The achievement orientation of the family was predictive of career salience and extrinsic aspirations. Conflict with mothers was predictive of career salience, yet support and depth in the relationship with mothers and low amounts of conflict in the relationship with fathers were predictive of career maturity. High career salience was also predictive of career maturity. The hypothesis that factors play a mediating role between the family and career development variables was not supported. These findings suggest future research should assess multiple aspects of the family and multiple facets regarding career development to more fully understand this process. In addition, findings support the idea that career counselors should assess family functioning when helping young people in their career development journey.

The purpose of this study is to make an investigation relating to certain factors and influences that have some bearing upon decisions made by graduating seniors in high schools to attend college or vocational school before entering a vocation or professional career.

Magister Artium - MA / Self Determination Theory (SDT) proposes that individuals are motivated to have goals and aspirations which are either intrinsic or extrinsic in nature. Intrinsic life goals are associated with greater psychological health and well-being. Research shows that family structure plays a role in the way children are raised and has implications for later adult adjustment. In South Africa 42.8% of children are raised in a single parent household. This study aimed to compare the goals and aspirations of learners from single and married parent households. The study used a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional comparative research design. The sample consisted of 853 Grade 11 learners from schools in the Northern, Southern and Metro Central Education Districts in the Western Cape. The data was collected using a selfreport questionnaire that consisted of two sections, demographical information and the Aspirations Index. The Aspirations Index assessed the life goals of the learners and categorised the goals and aspirations into intrinsic and extrinsic life goals. The data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences V20 (SPSS). The results suggest that there was a significant main effect of family structure on certain goals and aspirations of Grade 11 learners in secondary schools. These goals and aspirations included wealth, image, personal growth, relationships and health. Furthermore, participants from single parent households placed more emphasis on intrinsic goals than participants from married parent.