This mixed methods study investigates how ecological factors influence the
decisions urban Hispanic middle school and high school adolescents make concerning
their college and career aspirations. I examine the academic aspirations, career
aspirations, the influence of peers, teachers, and parents of seventh-, eighth-, ninth-, and
tenth-grade urban Hispanic adolescents, and gender roles in college and career aspirations
through the lens of Bronfenbrenner’s ecological subsystems theory.
Participants took the Student Career Assessment (SCA) survey consisting of
Likert-type multiple choice questions and open-ended questions to assess their college
and career aspirations. Quantitatively analyzed data examined the extent urban Hispanic
middle school and high school adolescents were influenced by items on scales of
encouragement, literacy, and education and whether there were differences by gender and
grade level. Student responses as to why they chose a specific career were analyzed
qualitatively.
Combined results for urban Hispanic middle school and high school adolescents
show a) both genders are interested in finishing high school and going to college, b)
Hispanic females are encouraged more than males to pursue their college and career
aspirations, c) more females than males know their career aspiration, but the majority of
students do not know how to prepare for their chosen career, e) females have more
confidence in their literacy skills than males. The more confidence Hispanic high school
students have in their literacy skills, the more likely they are to graduate from high
school.
Implications for future research should involve conducting studies in the areas of
college and career aspirations of urban Hispanic adolescents using random sampling.
More gender studies involving the college and career aspirations of urban Hispanic
adolescents would significantly add to the current body of knowledge.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2011-05-9051 |
| Date | 2011 May 1900 |
| Creators | Hostrup, Judy Ann |
| Contributors | Waxman, Hersh C., Padrón, Yolanda |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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