Filtering by
- All Subjects: Academic Achievement
- Creators: Appleton, Nicholas
- Creators: Homer, Judith
- Resource Type: Text
Expectation for college attendance in the United States continues to rise as more jobs require degrees. This study aims to determine how parental expectations affect high school students in their decision to attend college. By examining parental expectations that were placed on current college students prior to and during the application period, we can determine the positive and negative outcomes of these expectations as well as the atmosphere they are creating. To test the hypothesis, an online survey was distributed to current ASU and Barrett, Honors College students regarding their experience with college applications and their parents' influence on their collegiate attendance. A qualitative analysis of the data was conducted in tandem with an analysis of several case studies to determine the results. These data show that parental expectations are having a significant impact on the enrollment of high school students in college programs. With parents placing these expectations on their children, collegiate enrollment will continue to increase. Further studies will be necessary to determine the specific influences these expectations are placing on students.
Expectation for college attendance in the United States continues to rise as more jobs require degrees. This study aims to determine how parental expectations affect high school students in their decision to attend college. By examining parental expectations that were placed on current college students prior to and during the application period, we can determine the positive and negative outcomes of these expectations as well as the atmosphere they are creating. To test the hypothesis, an online survey was distributed to current ASU and Barrett, Honors College students regarding their experience with college applications and their parents' influence on their collegiate attendance. A qualitative analysis of the data was conducted in tandem with an analysis of several case studies to determine the results. These data show that parental expectations are having a significant impact on the enrollment of high school students in college programs. With parents placing these expectations on their children, collegiate enrollment will continue to increase. Further studies will be necessary to determine the specific influences these expectations are placing on students.
There were three main purposes of this study: 1) to construct a quantitative measure of parental pressure, 2) to evaluate whether self-esteem was a potential buffer of the negative impacts of parental pressure and academic stress, and 3) to understand better the factors impacting suicidality among adolescents in India by testing a path model of possible predictors suggested by the literature. Prevalence data of suicidal ideation and attempt history were also collected. Reporting on their experience over the past six months, 14.5% (n = 82) of the participants endorsed suicidal ideation and 12.3% (n = 69) of the participants admitted to having deliberately attempted to hurt or kill themselves.
Five constructs were explored in this study: parental pressure, academic stress, depression, suicidality, and self-esteem. The Parental Pressure for Success Scale, designed for this study, was used to measure parental pressure. The Educational Stress Scale-Adolescents was used to measure academic stress. The Center for Epidemiological Studies-Depression scale was used to measure depressive symptomology. Two items from the Youth Self-Report Checklist were used as a measure of suicidality in the past six months. The Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale was used to measure global self-esteem.
Preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the Parental Pressure for Success Scale was found. While self-esteem was not a significant moderator in this study, it was a predictor of both stress and depression. Results of the path analysis indicated that parental pressure predicted academic stress, stress predicted depression, and depression predicted suicidality. Parental pressure indirectly predicted suicidality through academic stress and depression. Results were discussed in the context of cultural influences on study findings such as the central role of parents in the family unit, the impact of cultural valuing of education, collectivistic society, and the Hindu concept of dharma, or duty.