Adolescents Career Aspirations, Gender and Socio-Economic Status

INTRODUCTION

Adolescence can be a time of both disorientation and discovery. Adolescence describes the teenage years between 13to19 and can be considered the transitional stage from childhood to adulthood. It is a period when rapid changes occur in the physical and psychological development of an individual. It is considered as a period of storm and stress. The adolescents are in the process of deciding their goals, priorities and values. During adolescence, aspirations are especially important because they allow teenagers to evaluate the degree to which various choices help or hinder their chances of attaining desired goals. Aspirations represent a person‘s orientation towards particular goals and can be influenced by gender, socioeconomic status and family support (Domenico & Jones, 2007). During adolescence, aspirations are especially important because they allow teenagers to evaluate the degree to which various choices help or hinder their chances of attaining desired goals. According to Gotfredson (2005), by the age of 13 and 14, adolescence has developed two cognitive competencies related to career development i.e. self-concept and perception about occupations. During adolescence, students have achieved an adult-level understanding of the sex type and prestige level of common occupations.

A Career preparation in adolescence is an important precursor for successful career development across the lifespan and is closely related to adolescence adjustment and well-being (Skorikov, 2007). During adolescence, developing a vocational identity is a central developmental task. According to Silvia (2001), aspirations refer to an individual‘s expressed career-related goals or intentions and also include motivational components which are not present in mere interests. The career aspiration of adolescents has been viewed as significant determinants of both short-term educational and long-term career choices (Mau & Bikos, 2000; Schoon & Parsons, 2002; Patton & Creed 2007).

vocational school in order to increase career possibilities. According to VandenBos (2007), career aspirations are defined as long-term individual work-related goals. Thus, educational aspiration of an adolescent can be measured by asking him to predict what performance he expects in a test, what he plans for his future education and what his outlook is towards higher education. He allows his abilities to determine what he will do or attempt to do. Adolescence is a time when important choices have to be made. In high school years, the student decides what subjects to take and the decision is based on his plans for his higher education. To make a wise choice, one must have a realistic idea of the kind of person he is and can become.

Aspirations are influenced by two types of factors that are environmental and personal. In early childhood, before the child is old enough to know what his abilities, interests and values are, his aspirations are largely shaped by his environment. As he grows older and is more aware of his abilities and interests, personal factors have a greater influence, but many of his aspirations, his values, for example, are still environmental in nature. There is a variety of factors which affects adolescents‘ aspirations. These factors are as follow:

Parental Ambitions: Parental ambitions influence the level of aspiration of the child (Manpreet, 2012). Social Expectation: Society expects more and more from some people than from others. It is generally assumed that one who is successful in a particular area may also be successful in another area if he wishes (Kaur, 2012). Family Pressure: Aspirations are often influenced by pressures from members of the family, mainly parents and grandparents, but also siblings and other relatives. Pressures for high achievement, the "great expectations syndrome‖ begin early and become stronger as the child approaches adolescence (Mistry, 2015). Peer Pressure: With increasing age, the person is more influenced by the group and less by the family. Friends may encourage or discourage a child from anything. If they encourage him, it is possible that he Culture: The traditions that influence a person's aspirations are closely related to the social structure of culture. In democratic societies, going from one social class to another is possible and relatively common people are encouraged to aspire high and are loaded for doing so. Cultural traditions are important factors for setting the goal but a rich cultural background helps the child in fulfilling higher expectation (Manpreet, 2012; Lata, 2016). Social Values: Values are a reflection of the person's home training, cultural background and philosophy of life. They influence the intensity of the person's interests and give an emotional tone to his/her aspirations. It also varies with the area of achievement. Social reward prestige also works as reinforcement (Kaur, 2012; Lata, 2016). Mass Media: Mass media influences goal setting because they imply that "everyone does it" or that it is the "thing to do." Whether the pattern of behaviour is depicted on the screen or in print, the person assumes that it has the stamp of approval of the social group. This strengthens her/his desire to accept it as the pattern for her/his own aspiration. The effect of mass media on aspirations is by no means limited to the young (Mistry, 2015). Competition: Many parents believe that to be successful in adult life, their children must be trained to strive for high achievement. Competition with siblings and peers in the hope or better than others is also an affecting factor for the level of aspiration (Kaur, 2012). Group Cohesiveness: It is also considered as a determinant of goal setting. One does better and sets a high goal when he is acting in a group (Manpreet, 2012).

Wishes: If one needs to achieve something or he has high achieved motivation, his level of aspiration for achieving will be higher, and thus his wishes influence the level of aspiration (Lata, 2016). Personality: The personality traits also determine the kind and strength aspirations. They are greatly influenced by personal characteristics such as foresight, frustration tolerance and ability to delay gratification of wishes, self-esteem, and meaning in life or purpose in life, ambition and temperament (Kaur, 2012; Lata, 2016). Past Experiences: The previous success strengthens one's aspirations failure weakens it. Whether frustrations come from the person's lack of ability or from environmental obstacles, their

Values and Interests: Personal values and interests also determine the extent of the level of aspiration. Studies show that aspirations that develop from and are closely related to interests that satisfy some need in the person's life are more likely to persist, more realistic than those related to transitory interests that may be fostered by social pressures (Manpreet, 2012; Lata, 2016). Sex: It is generally said that the boys and girls differ in because of their different interests, goals and expectations of society. Both the boys and girls have higher aspirations in different areas and greater need for achievements. Boys and men generally feel a greater need for achievement in school work, athletics, and vocational advancement than girls and women. As a result, they tend to set aspirations above their capacities in these areas (Kaur, 2012; Lata, 2016). Socio-economic Background: The person's status within a group likewise influences her/his aspirations. It is noticed that the middle and upper group, have a higher degree of an aspiration than those of lower group (Manpreet, 2012; Lata, 2016). Racial Background: Minority groups aspire higher than majority group, just a sort of compensation on the part of minority groups (Kaur, 2012). Thus, career aspirations are the degree to which an individual sets his educational goal, academic goal and occupational goal realistically in relation to his physical and mental attributes. These goals are individual sets for his own self-differ from one individual to another due to certain factors.

Willms (2004) defines SES as the relative position of a family or individual on a hierarchical social The socio-economic status in a layman‘s way of thinking would simply refer to the stratification of the society into three main categories i.e. high, middle and low. Socio-economic Status has usually been confined to five components. 1. Education of the parents and other members of the family. 2. The profession of parents and other members. 3. Income of the family from all sources. 4. Size of the family. 5. Total status of the family. Domenico and Jones (2007) reports can be influenced by gender, socioeconomic status and family support. During adolescence, aspirations are especially important because they allow teenagers to evaluate the degree to which various choices help or hinder their chances of attaining desired goals. Main Factors of Socio-economic Status (as cited in Ranjana, 2014; Amandeep, 2016). Income: Income refers to wages, salaries, profit, rents and any flow of earnings received. Income can also come in the form of unemployment or workers compensation, social security, pensions, interests or dividends, royalties, trusts, alimony, or other governmental, public, or family financial assistance. Education: Educational attainment is preferable to analyze for Socio-economic Status because it can be figured for all individuals. A person's educational attainment is considered to be the highest level (grade of degree) of education they have completed. Education also plays a role in income. Median earnings increase with each level of education is associated with better economic and psychological outcomes (i.e.: more income., more control. and greater social support and networking, Education plays a major role in skill sets for acquiring jobs as well as specific qualities that stratify people with higher Socio-economic Status from lower Socio-economic Status. Occupation: Occupational prestige as one component of Socio-economic Status encompasses both income and educational attainment. Occupational status reflects the educational attainment require to both the job and income levels that vary with different jobs and within ranks of occupation. The occupational status measures social position by describing job characteristics, decision-making ability, control, and psychological demands of

SES classification, provide more challenging work and ability to greater control over working conditions. Those jobs with lower rankings were food preparation workers, counter attendants, bartenders and helpers, dishwashers, janitors, maids and housekeeper, vehicle cleaners, and parking lot attendants. Many scales rank occupations based on the level of skill involved, from unskilled to skilled manual labour to professional, or use a combined measure using the education level needed and income involved, from unskilled to skilled manual labour to professional, or use a combined measure using the education level needed and income involved. Wealth: Wealth reflects intergenerational transitions as well as the accumulation of income and savings. Income, age, marital status, family size, religion, occupation, and education are all predictors of wealth attainment. The increasing cost of colleges and universities seems to be a deterrent for students of lower socio-economic status. Students may feel that cost itself would hold them back. This belief, although commonly held, might be overcome if the students were counselled to find economic assistance through scholarships and loans. Children whose parents are of a higher socio-economic status are more likely to have higher IQ's, test better and advance in their education further than those of a lower socio-economic status. This may be due to several reasons. Studies have shown mental health to be impaired due to the daily stress due to unemployment, economic displacement and housing dislocation, including homelessness. In addition, it is more difficult to provide healthy food, safe communities and clean work environments in areas of lower socio-economic status. On the flip side, those people with higher socioeconomic status have more exposure to health care and information that promotes healthy behaviours. In today's society, students of the lower socio-economic background are generally lacking the technology needed to keep up with the general population. The obvious reason is the high price of technology. Studies have shown that by using computers and the internet in the classroom helps to equalize students of all socio-economic backgrounds. It allows students to be more involved academically and professionally in their futures. They may even become as technologically literate as their more economically advantaged peers. Caste: Though used less often, the term caste is also related to SES because caste tends to convey one‘s social class, status, or position. But unlike SES, or at times an even social class, caste tends to convey a place in the hierarchy that is not surmountable by effort. Caste is set at birth and is rigid if not impenetrable. It is directly tied to the luck of one‘s birth parents (Arrow, Bowles &Durlauf, 2000). Staying constantly connected to one another through technology has become a normal part of everyday life, so it‘s inevitable that owning the latest products has become a status symbol. Staying constantly connected to one another through technology has become a normal part of everyday life, so it‘s inevitable that owning the latest products has become a status symbol. Social class or status of the family refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Social class influences socio-economic status because low people are treated depending on the class they come from, which may be determined by various factors. Socio-economic status strongly influences the varying student education. The probability of students on the value and attending schools of the higher attending school of higher education can also be an indicator of socioeconomic status is based on income, but to is connected to race as well. Social class or status of the family refers to the hierarchical distinctions between individuals or groups in societies or cultures. Social class influences socio-economic status because low people are treated depending on the class they come from, which may be determined by various factors. Socio-Economic Status strongly influences the varying student education. The probability of students on the value and attending schools of the higher attending school of higher education can also be an indicator of socioeconomic status is based on income, but to is connected to race as well. To sum up, socioeconomic status can be defined as a position which, up, from its personal attributes or special service, determines for its possessors, a degree of respect, prestige and influence. Further, it can be said that socio-economic status refers to the relationship between the individual and the racial set up in which he propagates. It encompasses the entire social environment that is provided to the individual and attitudes to a cluster of factors including, his occupation, income, cultural features of the home, religious beliefs, family relationships, living standards, caste etc.

Many studies (Gutman, 2008; Perry, Przybysz & Al-Sheikh, 2009) revealed that among urban youth, girls reported higher occupational aspirations than boys. Obura and Ajowi (2012) findings of the study indicated that there was a gender disparity in career aspirations of secondary school students in Kisumu Municipality. The relationship between students‘ career aspiration and their gender was found to be statistically significant. Kumari and Gupta (2017) found that Occupational aspirations of male students

different types of senior secondary schools of Delhi. The study concluded no significant difference between the occupational aspirations of girls and boys of all the schools taken together. Despite the cross-study differences evident in the recent literature, what is clear from this body of research is that the historical trend of girls' occupational aspirations being reliably and consistently lower than those of boys is no longer typical Bradley Report (Aust. Dept. of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, 2008, as cited in Pfingst, 2015, p.1), Osa-edoh and Alutu (2011), Abiola (2014), Gore, Holmes, Smith, Southgate, Albright (2015), Berger, Holmes, Gore and Archer (2016), Gore (2017) and Rani (2017) identified that students from a high socioeconomic background are more likely to attend university than a student from a low socioeconomic background. Results revealed that students from low socio-economic status backgrounds hold lower career aspirations and that outreach activity whereas Sandra (2012) conducted a correlation analysis to examine the relationships between predictor and outcome variables. The results indicated that gender and family socioeconomic status were not associated with continuing education aspirations or career achievement aspirations. To summarize, it can be stated that the studies on career aspirations have implied the significant importance of the variables gender, socio-economic status. The reviewed studies have helped in developing conceptual understanding.

THE NEED FOR THE STUDY

Adolescence is a critical time for forming aspirations for the future, especially with regard to career aspirations (Schulenberg, Goldstein &Vondracek, 1991; Vondracek & Lerner, 1982). Career aspirations take a firm shape during adolescent years, it is different from individual to individual. There are many variables that can affect a student's career aspirations. Some researchers feel that genetics accounts for 80% of an individual‘s potential, while others feel that the environment affects their potential (Marion, 1983). Out of different career hurdle in an adolescent‘s life, the major hurdle is socio-economic status. The influence of socioeconomic status on the occupational aspirations of youth has been investigated by a number of social science scholars. For the most part, the results of their work consistently found that socio-economic status has somewhere between a small to large but significant effect on the careers aspirations of adolescents (Liu, 2009; Ashby & Schoon, 2010; Abiola, 2014; Gore, Holmes, Smith, Southgate & Albright, 2015; Gore, 2017). But in contrast to the above studies (Nwachukwu, 2003; Sandra, 2012) and theoretical data found an insignificant relationship between the present study, the investigator will try to study the relationship between career aspirations and socio-economic status of adolescents.

The following are the objectives of the study: 1. To study the difference in the career aspirations of boys and girls adolescent. 2. To study the difference in socio-economic status of boys and girls adolescent. 3. To study the relationship between career aspirations and socio-economic status of an adolescent.

For the purpose of the present study the following hypotheses have been formulated: 1. There exists no significant difference in the career aspirations of boys and girls adolescent. 2. There exists no significant difference in socio-economic status of boys and girls adolescent. 3. There exists no significant relationship between career aspirations and socio-economic status of an adolescent.

The following are the delimitations of the study: 1. It was restricted to Chandigarh only. 2. It was restricted to three Government Senior Secondary Schools of Chandigarh only.

The present study was descriptive in nature. The purpose of the study was to examine the career aspirations of adolescents in relations to socio-economic status.

This study involved 100 secondary school students from randomly selected four Government senior secondary schools of Chandigarh. A total of 100 students successfully completed and returned the

In the present study, these tools were used 1. Career Aspirations Scale (CAS) developed by the researcher. 2. Socio-economic Status Scale (SESS) developed by the researcher.

Data were collected from a sample of three government school students studying in class IX. The entire data was collected from the government school students with due permission from the principal of each school. All the students were made to fill in the data individually in order to avoid duplication of the data in their sheets. Those sheets were collected and scoring was done by using the scoring procedure. Descriptive statistics, t-ratio and Pearson‘s coefficient of correlation was used to analyse the data statistically

Table 2 shows the ratio between the level of career aspirations of boys and girls is 1.864 which is more than the table value. So, t-ratio is significant at 0.05 level of significance.

Figure 1 Bar diagram showing the difference in mean scores of boys and girls Career aspirations It is apparent from figure 2 which indicates that Girls adolescent are high on Career aspirations than their counterparts. This shows that Boys and Girls adolescent differ significantly in their Career Aspirations. The result of the study also supported by Gutman (2008),Perry, Przybysz and Al-Sheikh (2009) who found girls have more career aspirations than boys, Obura and Ajowi (2012) also found significant gender difference, while Kumari and Gupta (2017) findings are contradictory as they found no significant gender difference in their Career Aspirations. Thus the null hypothesis-1 state ―There exists no significant difference in the career aspirations of boys and girls adolescent‖ is rejected.

―There exists no significant difference in socio-economic status of boys and girls adolescent‖.

Table 3 shows that t-ratio between the level of socio-economic status of boys and girls is 0.304, and it is less than the table value. So, t-ratio is not significant at 0.05 and 0.01 both levels of significance. Figure 2 Bar Diagram showing the difference in mean scores of boys and girls Socio-economic Status It is apparent from figure 2 which indicates that mean scores of Boys and Girls don‘t differ in Socio-economic status. This shows that Boys and Girls adolescent have the same condition on the variable socioeconomic status. Thus, the null hypothesis-2 stating that ―There exists no significant difference in socio-economic status of boys and girls adolescent‖ is accepted.

From the results, the researcher came to the conclusion that career aspirations have a positive significant relationship with the socio-economic status of class IX school students in Chandigarh, which means career aspirations will be high if a child is having high socio-economic status and it will be low if his status is low. The stronger financial motivation of students from low-SES backgrounds signals their hopes for occupational futures that provide financial security, while students from higher SES backgrounds appeared to see greater scope for pursuing their interests and passions. The results of the study which support by others are Beuka (2008),Bradley Report (as cited in Pfingst, 2015, p.1), Osa-edohand Alutu (2011), Obura and Ajowi (2012), Sandra (2012),Abiola (2014), Gore, Holmes, Smith, Southgate and Albright (2015), Gore (2017)and Rani (2017) whose respondents voiced lack of financial resources as the major barrier in their career choice. The focus of the study is based on when students are understood to make decisions about their post-school

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