II/I/ll/lI/fl/II/l/II/l/lI/lllII/l/I/I/lll/ll/lI/l/l/If/llI/ll 3 1293 10518 4570 MSU L RETURNING MATERIALS: PIace in book drop to remove this checkout from LIBRARIES Agggg,_._. your record. FINES wiII be charged if book is returned after the date stamped below. P 0 7 :3 SIGNIFICANT OTHER INFLUENCE ON AD3LLS LnT EDUCATICIM KPECIAIIONS: ANOTHER STAB Norman L. Fontes Sociologists, psyChologists and interpersonal communication expe ts testify to the importance of significant other influence on self concept formation (Haller and Butterworth, 1969, Sewell and.Shah, D68). An impressive piece of researCh exe cutedh oy ArChibaldu C. THeller and Joseph Woelfel (1972) empirically demonstrated that at least for the formation of educational and occupational expectations this was the case. This survey study focused upon the influence significant others exe.ted upon the development of adolescents' educational expe tations and attempted to evaluate the role communication assumed in the process A nu'rber of researchers have reported that peers exert the rrost influ— ence upon the develOpment of an adolescent's educational expectations (NcDill and Colenan 1965; Herriot, 1963; Alexander and Campbell, l96U). Other researchers have reported that parental influence exceeds peer influence (Kandel and Lesser, 1969; Cohen, 1965; Kahl, 1953; Pehberw and Nestby, 1967; Sewell and Shah, 1968a and b). The purpose of this inquiry was to: (l) generate and test a functional theory of the Norman E. Fontes eff-cts of significant other*groups or’networks upon adolescents' self concept formation; (2) deterndne if peers or the adolescents' fandlies exerted the most influence upon the development of adolescents' ideal— istic and realistic educational expectations; and (3) investigate the relationship between disparity in expectations and the stress adoles— cents experience. The findings indicate that peers exert more influence upon the development of an adolescent's realistic educational expectations than does his fandly. No statistically significant relationship was found between an adolescent‘s idealistic educational expectations and those that his peers and family had for'him. Finally, no relationship was found between the stress an adolescent experienced and disparity in expectations. This can probably be attributed to the fact that there was no disparity in expectations. srerrrrcem mm mam-Ice on ADOESCEIIT EDUCATIONAL E‘zZTCI‘ATIOI‘IS: m THER STAB By Morten E. Fontes A TrESIS Subndtted to I-Iichigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirerrents for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Departrrent of Communication 1371+ Accepted by the faculty of the Department of Communication, College of Communication.Arts, Michigan State University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements fOr the Master of Arts degree. [494%,ch 57 WEI/5: Director of Thesis Guidance Committee: , Chairman ii ACKI ICE-PumI’IBIT S 1 wish to express my sincere gratitude to the members of my committee, Dr. Gerald R. Miller, Dr. Donald P. Cushman, and Dr. Joseph Woelfel, for their intellectual stimulation and guidance. 1 would especially like to extend my sincere thanks to Timothy Shepherd without whose help I could not have completed this research. I hope that he learned as much from the experience as I did. In addition, I would like to thank Tom Florence for his constant interest and advice. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter I INTRODUCTIUD Statement of the Problem Theoretic Formulation . . . Hypotheses II PROCEUJRES . Definitions Design III RESULTS IV DISCUSSION APPL"DICES . A NISOBS tudent Identification Form . B Modified Version of Langer' s "Twenty-Two Item Screening Score of Psychiatric Swmfimmihflfinthgihpfirmmf'. Significant Other Telephone Protocol 0 FOOTNOTES BIBLIOG..PHY iv *U DJ (IQ (D H 07 15 15 21 22 27 33 33 52 55 59 61 LIS TABLES I O ”1 Prediction of.Adolescent's Realistic Educational Expectations Using Peer and Blood Relative Network Expectations (NzuO) . . . Prediction of Adolescent's Idealistic Educational Expectations Using Peer and Blood Relative Network Expectations (N=31) Prediction of Stress Adolescent Experiences From Disparity Between Adolescent's Realistic Educational Expectation for Himself and Those of His Respective Networks (NzuO) Prediction of Stress Adolescent Experiences From Disparity Between Adolescent's Idealistic Educational Expectation for Himself and Those of His Respective Networks (N=31) 21+ 25 26 CLAPTER I INTRODUCTION A significant anount of research has been devoted to assessing the effects significant others have upon the development of adolescents' educational expectations. The research literature in this area suggests two competing specifications of the influence relationShip that exists between adolescents and their significant others: (1) peers are more influential than parents and (2) parents are more influential than peers. The area deserves further researCh in light of these conflicting findings. If high sChool guidance counselors are to be effective, knowing whiCh significant other or group of significant others exerts the Host influence upon an adolescent would be invaluable information. This infornation would aid in the development of an appropriste com- munication strategy that would augment the oounselors' potential for exerting maximum influence upon the formation of adolescents' educa- tional expectations. A two-pronged communication strategy could be devised that entails impacting persuasive messages upon an adolescent and the Host influential significant other or group of significant others. This would generate the possibility of guidance counselors' nessages being reinfOrced increasing the degree of influence they exert upon adolescents. 2 The purpose of this inquiry will be to generate and test a functional theory that focuses upon the influence significant others exert upon the development of adolescents' expectations. Specifically, a Structural—Functional analysis will be utilized to generate a theory that incorporates the role communication assumes in the influence process. Statement of the Problem Sociologists, psychologists and interpersonal communication experts testify to the importance of significant other influence in self concept formation (Haller and Butterworth, 1960; Sewell and Shah, 1968). This is especially true for adolescents who must make the difficult transition from Childhood to the adult world. Cushnan et_al3 conceptualized the self concept as the "composite of information an individual has regarding his relationship to objects or groups."1 They further assert that an ”object is any referent the individual confronts as he experiences his environnent and can be assigned a symbol."2 If self concept fornation is conceptualized as a symbolic activity, it would seem reasonable to assume that an adoles- cent's self concept is influenced by infornation that is supplied to him by those with whonlhe interacts. An impressive piece of research executed by Ardhibald O. Haller and Joseph Woelfel (1972) empirically demonstrated that at least fOr the formation of educational and occupational expectations this was the case. The categories or ti as of si ificant others fronlwhom adoles- s 1P9 En cents seek information eSpecialIy concerning education has been well 3 documented. These categories include parents, friends, teachers, counselors, and other professional peeple with whom adolescents come in contact. However, there is some disagreement as to whiCh category of significant others exerts the most influence upon an adolescent's educational expectations. A number of researchers have found that peers exert the most influence upon an adolescent's educational expectations (McDill and Coleman, 1965; Herriott, 1963; Alexander and Campbell, l96u). Kandel and Lesser (1969) on the other*hand found that parental influence exceeded peer influence in the develOpment of adolescents' expectations. They concluded in part: We find that concordance on educational goals is higher*with mother than with best—school—friend and is not explained by the common social class whidh adolescents share with parents and friends. While concordance with friends increases with greater intimacy, concordance with mother remains at the same level, irrespective of the adolescent closeness to his parents.3 A number of other studies have generally supported the finding that parental influence exceeds peer influence (COhen, 1965; Kahl, 1953; J *1 ehberg and Westby, 1967; Sewell and Shah, 1968a and b). This dis— parity in empirical findings indicates the need for further research in this area. The researCh literature suggests two competing Specifications of the influence relationship which in turn suggests a.third: (l) peers are more influential than parents; (2) parents are more influ— ential than peers; and (3) competition exists between these two groups which, given the theory that will be developed here, would result in adolescents experiencing stress. The purpose of this inquiry was to generate and test a functional theory of the effects of determdnate communication networks upon self concept formation. More Specifically, a Structural—Functional analysis was employed to generate a theory regarding significant other networks' influence upon the formation of adolescents' educational expectations for themselves. Two dimensions of educational expectations, idealistic and realistic, have been investigated by researchers in the area and therefore were included in this analysis. It is conceivable that a network could exert major influence on one dimension and minimal influ— ence on the other dimension. Since self concept formation is a central concern within the Symbolic Interaction paradigm, it was the theoretical perspective adepted to guide this research. Central to this theoretical perspective is the postulate that the self concept is an informational structure. It is composed of information that defines an individual's relationship to objects in his environment. The information that an individual has concerning how he relates to his environment determines how an individual will behave. Some of this information is presented to an individual by those with whomlhe associates in terms of their expectations of how he should behave. Given that the self concept is composed of information "that information whidh constitutes the self concept is directly causative of human behavior.”u Based upon the preceding reasoning, the fOllowing relational proposition was generated: Self concept formation is a function of the expectations an individual develOps concerning his relationship to objects in his environment. 5 An individual seeks out information that defines his relation— ship to his environment from divergent sources. He can solicit infor— mation through his own observations of his environment; from.mass media sources; or from significant others. Significant others perform the function of providing individuals with infonnation that facilitates self concept formation. Individuals categorize their significant others into groups or networks who share a common relationship with them such as friend, relative, or teacher or counselor. These networks or groups of significant others can be located and their expectations for a given individual can be measured. The measurement of the signif— icant other groups' or networks' expectations for an individual should facilitate prediction of the individual's behavior.5 The literature indicates that one network or group may exert more influence upon an individual than other networks or groups. This may be a function of the amount of communication that ensues between an individual and his reSpective networks or groups. This possibility suggested the following proposition: The amount of influence exerted by significant other groups or networks on the formation of individuals' expectations is a function of the communication between individuals and their significant other groups or networks. It was reasoned that if these significant other networks or groups had disparate expectations for an individual, the individual might experience stress. Additionally, stress might result from.an individualls failure to identify what his significant others' expecta— tions were for himu Stress is an indicant of emotional instability 6 which would be an impediment to the individual's development of expec— tations for himself and consequent self concept formation (Fontes, Poloff, Hocking and Bechtel, 1972; Mettlin and Noelfel, 1973). This led to the formulation of the following relational proposition: Stress is a function of an individual's failure to identify his significant other networks' or groups' expectations for him and/or a function of diSparate group or network expectations for him. Theo ret ic Formul at ion The aforementioned relational propositions are functional. They specify the contribution or function that significant other groups or networks produce that enable individuals to formulate expectations for themselves. Given that one goal of this analysis was to formulate a Structural—Functional Theory that assesses the effect of cominication upon individual educational expectations it was desirous to choose an area of research in which the logic of the phenomenon being investigated was functional. Such a choice would facilitate the construction of a Structural—Functional model which incorporated the role of communication within it. Structural—Functionalism is one of several forms of systems analysis. It focuses upon the relationships bet-seen structures that produce functions facilitating the achievement of some goal. Signif— icant other groups or networks constitute structures that serve the function of allowing an individual to establish expectations for himself and hence formulate his self concept. In addition, Structural— Functionalism is particularly suited for the logical and empirical 7 evaluation of the effect communication has upon the develOpnent of expectations if communication is conceived of as an independent func— tional variable in cause and effect relationships.6 For the purposes of this analysis, communication was conceptualized as a cause having sore effect upon a preferred syste31state. It was reasoned that com— munication would be a contingent independent functional variable. Significant others would manipulate communication in an effort to exert influence upon the development of adolescents' educational expectations. More specifically, communication would be a sufficient (though not necessary and sufficient) condition for the exertion of influence by significant others. The logical requirerrents of the teleological Structural— Functional approach chosen for this analysis are as follows: (1) Identify the system under consideration. (2) Identify the normative criteria for Choice (either personal or social) among alternatives capable of yield'ng the desired system state (for which a nomic premise exists that is sufficient to bring into being the desired systenrstate). (3) Identify the goal state of the system and its theoretic equilibrium range. It is crucial to do this so that a measuring instruxent that will acconnodate Keasurenent of the range can be chosen. (H) Identify the traits that would contribute to the maintenance of the goal state. (5) Specify how the traits are functionally related to the goal state. (6) Specify which of the traits are subordinate wflwfiddianadmfinat. 8 (7) Specify the theoretic range of output of each trait. Again it is crucial to do this because it will help identify an appropriate instrurent for measuring the output of each trait. (It should be wade clear that multiple instrunents may be needed to measure the reapective ranges of the traits, functions, and goal state. V (8) Specify the theoretic ranges of the functions. (9) Using a logical calculus (or ordinary language), predict the logical entailnents within the system. The systexxthat was to be considered was identified. It was an informational system that would facilitate the adolescent's self concept formation. If the self concept is the composite of information that an individual has about his relationships to Objects in his environment then clearly the prise cornodity in the system had to be information. The next issue that was considered concerned the formation of the system itself. If the adolescent could Choose to obtain information concerning education from multiple sources, a set of theoretical criteria had to be established that would give some indication as to which sources he would choose. Theoretically, the adolescent was free to solicit educational infornation from his teachers and counselors, frsnlhis parents, from his friends, from his relatives, from profes— sional such as doctors with whom he cans in contact, from his employer, and from.mass Hedia sources. Given these potential infOrmation sources the following criteria that would govern the adolescent's choice were posited: (l) The infbrnation source would have to be acceSSible. (2) The source'wOild have to possess infornation concerning education. 9 (3) The infOrmation source might be someone the adolescent respected or who occupied a role the adolescent desired to occupy. (u) The information source might be someone who had means control over the adolescent. The goal state was identified. The goal of the adolescent was to establish educational expectations fer himself. If an adolescent's self concept is influenced by his significant others, the disparity between his expectations for himself and his significant others' expec- tations for him should be minimal. If the disparity was minimal, the adolescent would not experience undue stress. It was possible that an adolescent might have expectations for himself that were diSparate from those of his significant others. While still subject to their influence, he might refuse to adopt his significant others expectations for itself. If the disparity in expectations was considerable it would seem reason— able to assume that the adolescent had failed to develOp expectations fOr‘himself'that were in agreement with those held by his significant others for him. Based upon this reasoning the goal state theoretically ranged fromlno stress indicating that the adolescent had established educational expectations for himself to dysfunctional stress resulting from a failure to develop a set of expectations that were acceptable to him and his significant others. The traits that could contribute to the maintenance of the goal state were identified earlier. They consisted of parents, friends, relatives, professional or employed contacts, and mass media sources. Research findings discussed earlier indicated that parents and friends are the primary sources of influence for adolescents concerning ._ _ U . 'h“’ J‘ L‘— is. 10 education. For this reason only two categories of significant others were included in the analysis with one minor~modification. Relatives in general including;brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and grandparents were grOUped with parents generating a category that was labeled "blood relatives.” It was assumed that kinship networks share rela— tively the same set of expectations for an adolescent to whom they are commonly related. These two groups of significant others were con— sidered to be networks for heuristic reasor . It is reasonable to expect that members within each group communicated with one another. Measurement and evaluation of these communicative interactions remains to be evaluated in future research. These significant others performed the function of influencing or failing to influence the adolescent's self concept by providing himlwith information concerning their educa— tional expectations for him. That is, the significant others performed the function of informing the adolescent of the behavior'he should adopt. Both networks of significant others were considered to be sub- ordinate and not dominant traits. A dominant trait must be both logically and empirically independent. It must not inter ct with other traits. A subordinate trait, on the other hand, may interact with other subordinate traits. There was no theoretical reason to assume that the traits could not provide each other'with infOrmation or communicate with one another. It was assumed that in fact they did although the inter— action between the two networks of significant others was not measured in this study. ll The theoretic range of output of each trait was specified. It was reasoned that each network of significant others could have minimal expectations for the adolescent concerning education to very high expectations. They might expect the adolescent to complete high school or to continue his edu ~.tion and complete a doctorate. The function of eadh of the traits was identified. Each net— work of significant others would impact their expectations upon the adolescent. These expectationS‘would be reinforced through communica- tion. It was further’reasoned that the strength of the influence that each network of significant others exerted was contingent upon the amount of communication they could theoretically engage in with the adolescent during a specified time period. A.week was the time period chosen which led to the conclusion that theoretically the amount of commmnication could range from zero hours per week to 1H8 hours per week. This pointed out the need for a continuous measure. Based upon the preceding reasoning the following model was. constructed: f Influencing Adolescent's Educational Expectations Theoretic Range: Zero to lHB 4 hours of communication per'wcek r g ‘ "a n . Iheoret c nan e. gdfllfal expectations to high expectations U) G 1? Establishment of Information Networks for Self Concept Formation Establishment of Educational \\Expectations for Self No stress to dys— functimmfl.stress Theoretic Range: f Influencing Adolescent's Educational Expectations communication per WED \ Theoretic range: Ifififialapafiajme to high expectations 13 The fOllowing set of preliminary relational propositions generated earlier‘were used to deduce logical entailments that would facilitate testing the model: (I) (2) (3) Hypptheses U) elf concept formation is a function of the expectations an individual develops concerning his relationship to objects in his environment. The amount of influence exerted by significant other networks on the formation of individuals' expectations and hence self concept formation is a function of the amount of communication between individuals and their significant other networks. Stress is a function of an individual's awareness that his significant other networks have disparate expectations fOr him. Logical entailments were deduced from these prOpositions. These hypotheses focused upon the relationships between the adolescents and . . . . , 5 their Significant other networks: H l: r An adolescent's realistic educational expectation will be correlated highest with the aggregated realistic educational expec- tation of the network which communicates most often with him. An adolescent's idealistic educational expectation will be correlated highest with the aggregated idealistic educational expec- tation of the network which communicates most often with him. The smaller'the diSparity between an adolescent's realistic educational expec- tation and the adolescent‘s significant other networks' aggregated realistic educational expectations fOr‘himu the lower the amount of stress the adolescent will experience. H 14 The smaller the diSparity between an adolescent's idealistic educational expectation and the adolescent's significant other networks' aggregated idealistic educational expectations for*him, the lower‘the arount of stress the adolescent will experience CHEPTER II PROCEDURES ifinitions In this section an attempt will be made to formulate conceptual and operational definitions for‘the following constructs: (1) an adolescent's realistic educational expectation; (2) the network aggre- gated realistic educational expectation for an adolescent; (3) an adolescent's idealistic educational expection; (u) the network aggre— gated idealistic expectation for an adolescent; (5) communication; (6) disparity in realistic educational expectations; (7) disparity in idealistic educational expectations; and (8) stress. (1) An adolescent's realistic educational expectation was con- ceptually defined to be the adolescent's assessment of the amount of education he would conplete. This conceptualization was Operationalized by asking each adolescent to respond to the following item from the Wisconsin Signif— 7w- icant Other Battery (WlSOB) developed by Haller and Woelfel (1968):9 Hon mudh education are YOU REALLY SUPE YOU WILL GET? (check one answer) aJfihutsdwdl b.) Finish high sdhool c.) Go to trade, business, secretarial or‘nursing school 15 16 d.) Go to college or university (one that gives credit toward a Badhelor's Degree) e.) Get an advanced degree (Masters, Ph.D . or ——— a ., a o a professional sucn as law or mediCine) (2) The network aggregated realistic educational expectation for an adolescent was conceptually defined as follows. A network was defined to be a collection of individuals who share a common relation— ship with an adolescent and exdhange information concerning a tOpic of mutual concern. .Aggregated'was used to mean the average realistic educational expectation of each network for*their respective adolescents. Realistic educational expectation was defined to be a significant other's assessment of the anount of education the significant other~was confident the adolescent would complete. The construct was Operationalized in the following manner. High school students were administered the WISOB which contains significant other elicitors. The elicitor items direct the adolescent to identify his significant others and their respective relationships to hinn The Significant others were then telephonically interviewed using a protocol ‘ ¢ ‘ based upon the WISOB which included €18 following item: fknznmch education are you really sure (she/he) will get? The number of years that each significant other responded with was recorded. The peers and blood relatives were then grouped into two networks and a mean educational expectation was computed for eadh network. (3). An adolescent's idealistic educational expectationfiwas con— ceptualized to be the anount of education the adolescent would like to complete if there were no social or physical impediments constraining 1? him from getting as much education as he wanted. The construct was operationalized using an item from.the WISOB: How much education would YOU like to hav 3: ‘Yf )erJ 'T‘Vf‘ ”JillHJ stopped you frorlgetting AS HUCh Ab {JU HThiED? (check one answer) _a.)<@utsdwol :b. ) finish high school :c. ) Go to trade, business, secretarial or nursing school ___d.) Go to college or university (one that gives credit toward a Bachelor”s Degree) ___e.) Get an advanced degree (Masters, Ph. D., or professional such as la] or medicine) (H) The network aggregated idealistic educational expectation for an adolescent was conceptually defined in the same manner as the network aggregated realistic educational expectation for an adolescent with one exception. Idealistic educational expectation was defined to be the arount of education a significant other'would like to see an adolescent complete if there were no social or physical impediments constraining the adolescent from getting as much as he wanted. The construct was operationalized using the same procedure that was utilized for network realistic educational expectations with one exception. The following itemlfromxthe ~ISOB was used to reasure the construct: How much education would you like (Ad olescent) to have if nothing stopped (her/him) from getting as m-ich as (she he) wanted? (5) Communication was conceptually defined to be "the transfer of symbolic information which has as its principal goal the coordination of hunan activity in regard to the develOpment, presentation and l8 . . . . . lO validation of indiVidual self concepts." The construct was Operationalized in terns of the rate of transfer of information. The significant others were asked the following three— 9 part question contained in the . 2333: Do you spend much tire with ? (yes or no) (d dol lescent7' a.) How mudh? (hours pe er‘week, average, estimate) (Hours) - what fraction of that tine do you talk abJut school or work? (answer in percent) 5. ‘DOUA [1) b.) The mean number of hours that eadh network spent with the adolescent was computed. The wean percentage of time that each network Spent talking about school or‘work was also computed for each network. Two scales were used because it was possible that Sig mificant otle mmight exert influenc ce primarily through modeling behavior rather’than through com- municative interactions. Hence, it was conceivable that the network spending the greatest arount of time with the adolescent might exert the KCSt influence on adolescents' educational expectations rather than the network whidh spent the Host time communicating about sChool or‘work. (6) Disparity in realistic educational expectations was defined to be the absolute difference between an adolescent' s realistic educa- tional expectation for*hinself and the mean realistic educational expec— tation that each respective network had fOr him. The construct was operationalized using the following procedure. Because of the difference in neasurenent scales used to tap adolescents' realistic expectations for*therselves and significant others' realistic expectations for the adolescents, the significant other responses were 0 ategorized in a manner paralleling the ordinal scale used to measure 19 adolescents' realistic expectations for themselves. This facilitated the computation of the disparity scores. ire following transformation wasaeoxai (f) ignificant Other {LSDORS;S Category 1.0 thru 11.5 years Quit high school 11.5 thru 12.5 years Finish high school 12.5 thru 15.5 years Go to trade, business, secre- tarial or nursing sChool 15.5 thru 15.5 Go to college or’university (one that gives credit toward a BaChelor”s Degree) 16.5 and sore years Get an advanced degree (Masters, Ph.D., or pro— fessional suCh as law or nedicine) Mean educational scores were then computed for each network using these transforned values. Disparity scores were produced by taking the absolute difference between the adolescents' expectation scores and the Kean expectation score for each respective network. (7) Disparity in idealistic educational expectations was con- ceptually defined to be the absolute difference between an adolescent's idealistic educational expectation for hitself and the Kean idealistic educational expectation that each respective network had for him. It was Operationalized in exactly the sane manner as the disparity in realistic educational expectations construct except that idealistic educational data.were used. (8) Stress was conceptually defined as psychological pressure resulting frorlan adolescent's failure to develop expectations accept- ,. . ll , . able to him and his Significant others. The presence of psycnological pressure would cause physiological discomfort that could be measured. 20 .e construct was oper rationalizedm wing a modified version of Langer's (1962) "Twent y- Two Item Screening Score of Psychiatric Symptoms Indicating Impairment.” Mettlin andi Ioelfel (1973) modified the scale ”to make each item answerable in terms of a five point Likert Scale, ranging from Stroncly agree to srrorgly disagiJe, instead of the simple yes— no response categories of the original” scale.12 A stress index was created by summ’ng across scale items. This sumiwas divided by the number of items (22) contained in the instrument producing a mean stress score for each adolescent. rThese scores could range from 1.00 indicating that an adolescent was experiencing intense stress to 5.00 indicating that an adolescent was experiencing virtually no stress. Empirical Me uirements for Teleological Structu ral— Fu.,tional frai sis The emp'rical requirements for*this form of analysis were examined to determdne 'f they he d been met. They are as follows: (1) Identify the measurin g instruments to be used to measure the goal state, reSpeCtive functions, and reSpective rait s. (Pecall that multiple instruments may be needed.) (2) iranslate the lo ogic cal predicti/e calculus into LJiric 1 ca a1 culus (e.g., re Jgre ession equations). (3) Measure the system. (For teleological analyses, measure the consistency of the nomuc premises with the value systems of the individuals, dyads, groups or population being investigated.) (H) After the measurement has been completed, use the empirical findings to correct the entailments predicted at the logical level (if an error has been made at the logical level). (5) After the correction at the logical level, if possible, repeat the measurements to determine if the empirical observations now follow from the logical entailments 21 The empirical requirements had been met. Appropriate measuring instru- ments had been identified. The logical entailments were translated into regression equations and the systemlwas measured. The empirical findings were used to correct the predicted entailments at the logical level and are presented in the Discussion section of this thesis. Plans are currently pending to test the corrected logical entailments. Design The primary form of analysis used in this survey study was a multiple regression design. In May, 1973, the WISOB was administered to 382 adolescents at a mddwestern himh school. One hundred and two of these adolescents were randomdy selected to be included in this analysis.13 Fifty-nine of the subjects were male and H3 were females. Their‘mean age was 16.13 years and their average year in school was 10.37. The mean n mber of signif- icant others listed by each adolescent was 6.75 of whidh 2.93 were peers; 2.56 were blood relatives; .97 were teachers and/or counselors; and .75 were professional or employed contacts. A total of M66 significant others were interviewed during the months of June and July, 1973. Of these, 1H8 were peers; 134 were blood relatives; 71 were teachers and/or counselors; and 13 were professional or employed contacts. On the average they had resided in the town in which the high school was situated for 12 years and had completed slightly more than 13 years of formal education. Only the significant others who were pJers or blood relatives were included in this particular analysis. ‘.il|lv 1 1 . .i\ J i l JIIIII Ill all". 'Illi ical predictive entailments using multiple regression. The logical predictive entailments were translated into empir— CHAPTE. III RESULTS predictive equations were generated: H1 H2 I O ) Xi : 312X2 + 813x3 in : Busxs + Buexe >27 : 378X8 + 879X9 2 - X _ x + 7 8710 10 B711 11 an adolescent's realistic education expectation for himself blood relative network's aggregated realistic educational expectation for the adolescent an adolescent's idealistic educational expectation for himself peer network's aggregated idealistic educational expectation for the adolescent blood relative network's aggregated idealistic educational expectation for the adolescent the stress the adolescent experiences 22 The following 23 X = the disparity between an adolescent's realistic educational expectation for himself and the peer network's aggregated realistic educational expectation for him kg — the disparity between an adolescent's realistic educational expectation for himself and the blood relative network's aggregated realistic expectation for him X10 = the disparity between an adolescent's idealistic educational expectation for himself and the peer network's aggregated idealistic educational expectation for him X11 2 the disparity between an adolescent's idealistic educational expectation for himself and the blood relative network's aggregated idealistic educational expec— tation for him Prior to testing Hypotheses l and 2, the network whiCh commun— icated the most with the adolescent was identified. The blood relative network Spent an average of 19.77 hours per week while the peer network spent 10.HH hours per~week with the adolescent. Of that time 30% and 27% respectively was spent talking about school and work. The networks consequently spent the following number of hours per‘week talking about sChool and.work with the adolescents: Peers Blood Relatives 7.: 2.”? hours per week 7': H.9H hours per‘week S.d. = 2.79 S.d. = 5.30 U = 33 N 3 33 A two-tailed t—test was executed and a significant ‘fference was found (3.: 2.36, d.f. = 65 p < .05). If H1 and H2 were to be supported, the regression analySis would have to demonstrate that the blood relative networks' expectations were correlated highest with the adolescents' expectations for themselves. 24 The .05 level of significance was used to test eaCh of the hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 was significant. The results reported in Table 1 reveal that there was a significant relationship between adoles— cents' realistic educational expectations and the peer networks' expec- tations for‘themu The beta weight for the peer networks was 1 aol F] (D Prediction of Adolescent's Realistic Educational Expectations Using Peer and Blood Relative Network Expectations (Nzu0) H : X = B V + B X 1 l 12”2 13'3 Multiple R = .61 d.f. = 2, 37 p < .05 R Square = .37 F = 11.09 Betas Peer Network 8 = .53 F1: 15.21 d.f. = l, 37 p < .05 Blood Relative Network 8 = .18 F = 1.82 d.f. = 1, 37 p > .05 significantly different fromlzero while the beta weight for the blood relative networks was not significantly different from zero, indicating that the peer network was more influential. The relationship posited in Hypothesis 2 between an adolescent's idealistic educational expectations and those of his significant other HEtWOILS was not significant. Hypothesis 3 which predicted that the greater the disparity between an adolescent's realistic educational expectations and those that his significant other networks have for him, the Greater the stress he will experience was not significant. (.3 25 TflfleZ Prediction of Adolesce t's Idealistic Educational Expectations Using ‘e r and Blood Relative n P e Network Expectations (N231) H I ‘x Z X H i" 2 u Bus 5 + Que/6 Multiple R = .23 d.f. = 2, 28 p > .05 R Square : .05 P = .77 Betas Peer Uetw rk 8 = .16 E = < 1 d.f. = 1, 28 p > .05 Blood Relative NetwOLk 8 = .15 F = < l d.f. = 1, 28 p > .05 Tafle3 Prediction of Stress Adolescent Experiences from Disparity Between Adolescent's Realistic Educational Expectation for Himself and Those of His Respective Networks (H=H0) ° ' : r “ + 9 ‘. H3' x7 ”78KB “79X9 Wultiole R = .3M d.f. = 2, 37 p > .05 R Square = .12 P = 2.03 Betas Peer Network 8 = -.37 P = H.85 d. . = 1, 37 p < .05 Blood Relative Network a = .13 F = .60 d.f. = 1, 37 p > .05 26 Hypothesis u which posited the same relationship using idealistic educational expectations was not significant either. Tafleu Prediction of Stress Adolescent Experiences From DiSparity Between Adolescent's Idealistic Educational Expectation for Himself and Those of His Respective Networks (N231) A Hu‘ ‘7 = 8710110 + B711X11 Multiple R = .21 d.f. = 2, 27 p > .05 R Square = .0H F = .65 Betas Peer Network 8 = .1” E = < l d.f. = l, 27 p > .05 Blood Relative Network 8 = -.27 P = 1.27 d.f. " l, 27 p > .05 Since Hypothesis 1 was significant and Hypothesis 3 was not, a one—way AHOVA was used to determine if there was a significant dif— ference between an adolescent's realistic educational expectations for himlef and the realistic educational expectations that his peer and blood relative networks had for him. There was no significant difference using the .05 level of significance. CHAPTER IV DISCUSSION The model posited was not fully supported. The significant other network which Spent the most time communicating with the adoles— cent about school and work was the blood relative network. The network exerting the greatest amount of influence upon the adolescents at least in terms of realistic educational expectations was the peer network. This finding suggests three considerations: (1) communication was measured inadequately in this study; (2) communication is not the primary determinant of influence; or (3) a combination of one and two. This researcher recognizes that there were problems inherent in the communication measurement technique used in this study. It is reasonable to assume that the amount of information needed by an adoles- cent varies as a function of the saliency of the tOpic considered whether it be education or occupations. For some adolescents, information concerning occupations may be more important than information concerning education because they are not planning to continue their education after they complete high school. Consequently, these adolescents would probably expend more time communicating about occupations than they would about educational opportunities. For this reason, it is incumbent upon the researCher to measure the communication that is exChanged between an 27 28 adolescent and his significant other networks for each topic of interest that is included in the research design. For example, if a researcher is attempting to empirically assess the amount of influence that dif— ferent significant other networks exert upon an adolescent concerning educational and occupational expectations, measuring the total number of hours per week the adolescent Spends communicating with his significant . . . . . 15 others concerning education and occupations lacks preCiSion. The communication expended on each tOpic needs to be measured separately. This will increase the precision of the analysis in terms of evaluating the amount of influence that each significant other network exerts Upon an adolescent's expectations as a function of the amount of communication that transpires between the significant others in a given network and an adolescent. While the measurement of communication employed in this analysis was not totally inadequate, it suffered from two major shortcomings: (1) an assumption had to be made that 50% of the time spent talking about school and work was devoted to education and 50% to occupations; (2) no as 89 S Sh“. ( nt was made concerning the qualitative characteristics of the messages exchanged. For example, an adolescent and his blood relative network might spend the total time they talk about school addressing the issue of how the adolescent should dress to attend school as opposed to communicating about the possibility of the adolescent attending college. The measurement used in this analysis fails to detect this type of communicative interchange because of its predominant quantitative character. 29 The problems encountered in measuring this elusive construct are not endemic to this analysis. The problem arises from the fact that communication at best can be measured as an explanatory erived vari— . 16 . . . . . . able. This means that if we cnoose to measure communication USln” a a ratio scale which increases the power of the statistical tests that we can use, we must incorporate one primitive variable such as time into our measurement scale as well as the explanatory variable of communica— tion. Since communication is not a primitive variable no assumption can be made that subjects will use the same basic unit of analysis in dis— criminating between amounts of comnmnication expended between them and their respective significant others. Different adolescents might use time as a discriminator while other adolescents might use the number oi times they are told to adopt a particular behavior as their basic unit of analysis in approximating the amount of comnwnication that transpires between them and their significant others. The strength of the measure- ment scale used in the present study emanates from the fact that it is a ratio scale that standardizes he basic unit of analysis that adoles- cents are to use in making their discriminations. An alternative measurement of communication that incorporates this positive characteristic and takes into consideration the qualitative Characteristics of messages would be desirable. One procedure might be to ask adolescents HON OFTEN a significant other recommends a particular type of behavior such as attending college or going to a vocational school. This would take into consideration, at least to some degree, the type of information that the significant others were impacting upon an adolescent. 30 There may be other reasons that account for the lack of support for the hypotheses posited in addition to the problems encountered in the measurement of communication. It might well be that communication is not the primary determinant of significant other influence. It may be the case that the amount of information that a significant other has about an adolescent determines the degree of influence that a significant other exerts upon an adolescent. This issue is explored in more detail later in this Discussion section. Neither was support obtained for the second hypothesis. No significant relationship was found between an adolescent's idealistic educational expectations for himself and those of his peer and blood relative networks. The third hypothesis was not supported. However, the possibility that a relationship does in fact exist between stress and disparity in expectations should not be dismissed. In this analysis a one—way ANOVA demonstrated that there simply was no disparity in realistic educational expectations between an adolescent and his respective peer and blood relative networks. This in itself would be enough to account for the failure to find a significant relationship between the two constructs tested in this hypothesis. Failure to find empirical support for the fourth hypothesis can be attributed to the failure to Support Hypothesis 2. No support for this hypothesis would be expected given the lack of a significant rela- tionship between an adolescent's idealistic educational expectations for himself and those of his peer and blood relative networks for him. Bl A final issue that needs to be addressed is the model posited earlier. One of the central foci of the model was information, measured in terms of the expectations that adolescents had for themselves and the expectations that their peer and blood relative networks had for them. One additional measure of information needs to be incorporated into the model and that is the type of information that each network possesses about the adolescent himself. It would seem reasonable to assume that the influence a significant other exerts upon an adolescent’s behavior comes in part from the information the significant other has about the adolescent in terms of sociological and psychological information. This researcher would argue that the more psychological information a sig— nificant other possesses concerning an adolescent, the greater the influence he will exert upon an adolescent.17 Since an adolescent's peers probably possess substantially more psychological information about him than do his relatives, this might account for the influence that peers exert upon adolescents. Based upon this reasoning a modified set of relational prOposi— tions suggest themselves: Self concept development is a function of the information an individual has about his rela— tionships to objects in his environment. Significant others (as one source) perform the function of providing information that defines an individual's relationship to objects in his environment. The transfer of information functions to establish an individual's expectations for himself and his significant others' expectations for him. Awareness of disparity in expectations concerning self-object relationships is a function of communication. 32 The degree of interpersonal influence exerted upon an individual by his significant others is a function of the amount of psychological information they have concerning the adolescent. Stress is a function of disparity in expectations concerning self—object relationships. These propositions would change the model to the extent that when measuring the communicative output of the traits, the amount of psycho- logical information that each trait possessed concerning the adolescent would also be measured. The lOgical entailments that would follow would predict that the network which has the greatest amount of psychological information about an adolescent and recommends a specific behavior moSt frequently will exert the most influence upon the development of an adolescent's expectations. In this analysis an attempt has been made to evaluate empirically the role communication plays in the influence significant other networks exert upon the development of adolescents' educational expectations. If guidance counselors are to be effective, this issue needs to be resolved so that they can design communication strategies that will maximize their potential influence upon high school students. It was determined that the peer network exerted more influence upon adolescents' realistic educational expectations even though the blood relative network expended more time communicating about school and work than did the peer network. Som- suggestions directed at improving the measurement of communication were offered. Finally, it was suggested that one additional measurement of networks should be included in any future design and that is the amount of psychological information con— cerning adolescents the significant others within the networks possess. APPENDIX A APPBFDIX A WISOB STUDENT IDENTIFICATION FODW 4" Read each of the following carefully. Answer to the best of your ability. If you have any questions we have failed to answer, raise your hand so we can help you. 1. Ymm‘namz 2. Your address street or route city state 3. Sex (please check) male female M. Date of your birth Age day month year 5. Name of your school 6. The year you are in school 7. Today's date day month year 8. Parents' marital status: circle one Natural Parents: a) married, b) separated, c) widowed, or d) divorce 9. With whom do you live? Name Name 10. Where do you live? Check one. a) with both my parents b) with my natural father c) with my natural mother d) with my natural father and my stepmother e) with my natural mother and my stepfather f) other 3H 11. What is your father's name? 12. What is your stepfather's name? 13. What is your mother's name? 14. What is your stepmother's name? 15. Are there any stepbrothers or stepsisters who live with you? Yes No 15. If yes, what are their names and how old are they? f'V'T‘ inere are several questions which refer to your parents. If for any reason you are not living with your parents, answer for the person who acts as your parent or guardia.. 17. Your Father's occupation: (or was, if dead or retired) (Specify d f the tin 0 work he does and not where he works.) 18. Your Mother's occupation: (or was, if dead or retired) (Specify the kind of work she does and not where she works.) 19. The number of brothers and sisters you have is: (please circle) a) O b) l c) 2 d) 3 e) H f)5 g) 6 or more 20. In your family you were born: lst 2nd 3rd Nth 5th 6th 21. In terms of income or wealth of families in your community, do you think your family is: a) considerably above average d) somewhat below average b) somewhat above average e) considerably below c) average average How far did your father and mother go in school? (check one fOr each) 22. Father 23. Mother a) less than 8 grades a) b) 8 grades b) c) 9—11 grades c) d) 12 grades d) Ii![.[‘llf (III-III 2H. 25. 26. 27. e) some college e) f) college degree f) g) an advanced degree (Masters, g) Ph.D., or professional such as law or medicine) I live: (check one) a) on a farm b) in the Open country, but not on a farm c) in a village under 2,500 d) in a town of 2,500 — 10,000 e) in a city over 10,000 My father is engaged in the type of occupation checked below: a) Office work (cashier, clerk, secretary, bookkeeper, etc.) b) Professional (doctor, lawyer, minister, teacher, etc.) c) Executive (nenages large business, industry, firm, etc.) d) Factory worker (laborer, janitor, farm.hand, etc.) e) Salesren (insurance, real estate, auto, store, etc.) f) Owns, rents, manages small business (store, station, newspaper, cafe , etc . ) g) Owns, rents, manages farm h) Other occupation (be Specific) How do you estimate the ability of your parents to help you go to college if you desire to go? a) can easily afford it c) can afford it b) can afford it, but with d) I must work to help much sacrifice support the family About how much could you or your fandly contribute to your college expenses next year (if you were going)? a) none d) between $500 and $1,000 b) less than $500 d) all my expenses c) between $1,000 and $1,500 INS-PUCTIONS: The following questionnaire is designed to help us learn who is important to you in helping you make your plans about your future. Under each question there are six lines. You are to write the full names of persons, their addresses if you know them (or where they can be found), and their relationship_to you (for example, mother, father, best friend, teacher, etc.). 1. Who have you talked to about the kind of car you should buy? 7 T/‘\ ff“ “ch 251'“? fir-V1 Vrfiffi - , FJLLIJa.L AJSRLSS xttallunSaIP George Smith 15 ElnaSt:,_Madison Father Paul Stone H Briar Rd., Peoria Friend John Lennon 350 H. 55th, N.Y.C. Father's friend Marlene Walters 1507 H. Broadway, N.Y.C. Aunt Sarah Mil iams l2 gynn Dr., Cairo Girlfriend ”on Schultz 150 N. Clark, Urbana Friend Some of the . O uestions may seenxthe sane to you, but they really are different. Even so, sore may have the sane answer. You may want to use the sane names over and over. This is perfectly all right. You do not need to repeat the addresses, relationships, for names listed more than once. If you have any questions while you are writing, please raise your hand so we can help you. Work as rapidly as possible, but make sure you answer all questions. 37 28. There are fOur inportant things that peOple usually think about when they are considering a career: 1) What kind of work you do (for example, faraing, building, treating patients, typing, and so forth); 2) The kinds of working conditions (for example, working with other people or alone, indoors or out— doors, and so forth); 3) What purposes the job serves (for example, helping people, growing crops, advancing science, and so forth); and A) tenefits the job has for you (for example, salary, social “position, i188 tJJLFE, etc.). A) I'Jho have J’OU talked to about the kind of work that different jobs require? FJLL PIAIE ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP B) Who have you talked to about the working conditions you Hdght find on different jops? FILL NAME ADDFFSS RELATIONSLIP C) Who have you talked to about the purposes of different kinds of jobs? mu. we: L ADD? cs RE WIWWIW LL) D) Who have you talked to about the benefits (salary, social position, etc.) of different kinds of jobs? FULL NAME ADDRESS RELATIOIS IF 38 Who do you know who has had any of the kinds of jobs you have thought about, and has been an example of? 23. The kind of work jobs like these require? FULL NAME ADDRESS “ELATIONSH_1 30. The kind of working conditions jobs like these have? FULL NAME ADDRESS RELATIONSLIF 31. The purposes the jobs like these have? FULL WAKE ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP 32. The kinds of benefits (salary, social position, etc.) these jobs give? FULL NAME ADDRESS IELATIONSHIP 39 33. We know that all peOple are different. Some peOple are better suited than others for different kinds of work, different kinds of working conditions, different kinds of purposes (for example, helping people, and so forth), and different kinds of benefits (salaries, social position, etc.). This question wants to know how you wade up your mind what kinds of work, working conditions, C purposes and benelits are right for you. A) Who have you (D poken with about what kinds of work are right for you? I EIMJJFUOEI ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP 8) Who have you Spoken with about what kinds of working conditions are right for you? FULL NAME ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP C) Who have you spoken with about what kinds of purposes (building, helping people, writing, etc.) are right for you? FULL NAME ADDRESS RELATIONSHI- D) Who have you spoken with about what kinds of salary, social position, and so forth, are right for you? . '11. ll I‘ll-I'll III' ill I ll: . l Ill-ll ‘l. llllllu‘lllll [Ill-I‘ll!“ It I'll I ‘lll.l HO 3H. Who do you know who is like you are in being suited for the same kinds of work? FULL I‘IAME ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP 35. Who do you know who is like you are in being suited for the same kinds of working conditions? FULL MAI/E ADDRES S RELATIOI‘I SHIP 38. Who do you know who is like you are in being suited for jobs with the sane purposes? FULL WAT 1L ADDLESS RELATIONSHIP 37. Who do you know who is like you are in being suited for jobs with the sane kinds of salary, social position, and so forth? FULL I‘IAVE ADDRESS RELATIOI-ISHIP Al Education after high school is often considered important for different reasons. Some people believe it is important for success in later life. Some think it develops you as an individual. Other§——. because of the experience of learning 'tself. And others because of the experienceo of the social life at school. 38. 33D HAVE YOU TALKED TO ABOUT A) Education beyond high school as important for sucess in life? WLL LIAHE MD RESS PFLATlOLSHIP WHO HAVE YOU TALVED TO ABOUT 8) Education beyond high school as important for personal developnent? FULLILOFE ADDRESS REIATI IISH IP WHO HA’E YOUm lALKED TO AB OJT C) The kind of work that one does in school after high school? TOLL FAME ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP H2 WHO HAVE YOU TALKED TO ABOUT D) The social life at school (such as meeting teachers, other students, sports, dating) after high school? JLS NAME ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP FV’ 39. Who do you know who has tried to achieve success through educa- tion beyond high school? FULL NAME ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP H0. flho do you know who has tried to develop himself as a person through education beyond high school? HILL MAKE ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP Ml. Who do you know who has experienced the work involved in educa- tion beyond high school? Iillll}; ll'l" l M3 H2. Who do you know Who has experienced the social life of education after high school such as meeting teachers, other students, extra- curricular activities, dating, etc.? FULL NAME ADDRES” RELATIONSHIP H3. We know that people are different. Some people have the skills, abilities and desires for school work; some people are the kind who fit well into the social li fe of education, some peOple are able to achieve success in later lie by going to school; and some become better pe sons by going to chool. U) F1). it; A. Who has spoken to you about yourself as having or not having the skills, abilities, or desires neejed for school work bey nd high school? FULLILLCJ .DDRES S RELKTIONSHIP B. Who has gpoken to you about vourself as being the kind of person who would or would not fit in ..ell with the outside activities and social life of education after high school? FJLL HAW? ADDRESS RELATIOHoniP nu C. Who has spoken to you about yourself as being the kind of person who is able or not able to becoxe a success in later life by going beyond higt school? ITHJJIUuu. ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP D. Jho has spoken to you about yourself as being able or not being able to become a better perso n through education bevond high school? FULL NAME ADDRESS RELATIONSh IP nu. Who do you knc w who is like you are in ha zing or not having the s} :ills, abilities, or des res f JP school ork beyond high school? PULL Nfi”£ P PDPESS PELATIQNSHIP MS. Who do you know who is like you are in being the kind of person who would or would not fitL L dwell with the outside activities amjsocufl enmrcmwvt ML of education beyond high school? FULLL‘ AME AD;JP ESS PELATIOMS"TP $5— H5 ME. Jho do you knOJ who is like you are in being the kind of person who is able or not able to becore a success in later lik eby going beyond high school? FULL NAME ADDRESS RELATIONSHIP H7. Who do you know who is like you are in being able or not being able to become a better person through education beyond high school? FULL NAME ADDRESS RETQTIONSHIP MB. In just a few words, wIY do you usually choose the peo ple you Hentioned to talk to about school and work? Hg. Do the people you mentioned usually aoree with your own thinking A about school and work? a) Almost alway s acree with me b) Usually agree with me c) So"etines agree and sometimes disagree d) Usually disagree with me e) Alnost always disagree with me 50. Please list the job or jobs you really expect to get when you finish your education. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. H6 Please list the job or jobs you would Host like to have when you finish your education. Please list the job or jobs you really expect to have when you are thirty years old. Please list the job or jobs you would most like to have when you are thirty years old. What job or jobs do the Eeoole you mentioned really expect you to get when you finish your eduoation? What job or jobs would the peOple you mentioned most want you to have when you finish your education? 5) DJ Ff L_J .ob or jobs do the Deople you mentioned really expect you to have when you :re thirty years old? What job or jobs would the people you rentioned most want you to have when you are thirty years old? ill. [If "run-I l. 1 1| ‘lc III I‘ E 1': H7 E—3-951179—l992 3l nodel NSl:’1CTIOmI O This set of oueStions concerns your interest in different kinds of jobs. Inere ar eight questions. {ou are to check ONE joo in LéCh Question. Make sure it is the BL MAI Pyou can give to this question. Read each question carefully. They are all different. Answer all questions the best y ou can. Do not oxdt any, EYQA If 99 VUS GULSS. 58. If you wei JUST OUT OF SCH99L AX) L99KIH9 P99 A JOP ich O"E of the jobs list : i~ ‘e bi:T Oh you are RTaLLY SU% 9“ Y9U CUULIJ-GSI? a). lawyer b). Welfare worker fora city governnent c). United Sta_es repr esentatixe in Congress d). Corjfiral in the.Army e). United States Supreme Court Justice f). Night watchran g). Sociologist h). Policeran i). County agricultural agent j). Filling s We ion at endant 59. If you VB JUST CUT OF SCHGOL and LOOKING F9R A JOB, which CHE of the jobs listed in this question uli "ou choo 1f you 'ere EB T9 Ch993€ ANY of them you wished? a). Menber of the board of directors of a large corporation b). Undertaker c). Banker d). Machine operator in a factory e). Physician (doctor) f). Clothes presser in a laundry g). Accountant for a large business h). Railroad conductor i). Railroad engineer j). Singer in a night club 69. O9 H 62. If you were of the j obs SUP; Y9U C9' "JA 1 1 Y'\ VJS g \J 48 OEG—2—951170- 1992 OBI 331 model r"1 r‘v FT! 7* T'r‘ )V r- , f ' .yH—i l 911 Or San'L and LOOKING FOR A JCB, which 9”; + I) n J T-_—-— . . '» "'\ A—T—r— T. n, t I" ~ Qtw o Hp wh-Ym {I‘i’r H we ~~‘ TV ‘ut‘ u’lj in n15 \JLVU Lon lb .L‘.’ “Lo-1b).]. Vi‘b—A )Ou a‘ 'w $\;—‘H~—J;—a‘ [\Fr‘fi? —-———-—.—— Nuclear physicist Re :orter for a daily news spaper County judge k gel" e). State governor f). Soda fountain clerk g). Biologist h). Hail carrier i). Official of an international labor union j). Farm Hand If you were JUST the jobs li LO PaJJuha It: JY c4-T— .Jl-': :1 o: tten you wished OUT OF SCE99L and LOOKING F'9R A JOB, which ONE of ‘ .,__. __ , _‘ _, ---q —-: ’1 “,_f‘ q r | ' ~ r~r‘ P‘ L . ‘> - in Lnlo oiYstion would yo c Jos- ll you were IRL f‘ a). Psychologist b). Manager of a sr all store in a city C). Head of a dapartrent in state government d). Clerk in a store e). Cabiret He xber in the federal government f). 9a. 1.19101" g). hiisician in a symphony orchestra i). Carpenter i). Padio annol.c r r O 7) J 0 Coal miner If you were question is a). 39 YEAFS OLD, which OHS, of the joos list ed in this :LLU’I I911; you are a5: LY SUPP. u CECIL.) GET? Civil engineer b). r“. 1/1/ QRC‘Y‘ CODJ uke vi} 4“ c). Minister or Priest d). Streetcar motornen or city bus driver e). f). Diplomat in the United States Foreign Service Share crOp per (one who o'ers no livestock r f machinery, and does not manage the farm) Author of novels Plumber Newspaper columnist Taxi driver 63. EU. 65. M9 If you were 30 ‘ ”RS OLD, which ONE of the jobs listed in this cuestion would you choose if you 'sere FRLQ TO CEO OSE AL! of them you wished? a). Airline pilot h). Insurance agent c). Architect d). Milk route ran e). Mayor of a large city f). Ga bage collector g). Ca; itain in the Army h). Garage mechanic i). Owner— operator of a printing shop j). Pailroad section hand If you were 30 ;APS L, which CL; of the jobs listed in this question is the :LLI J15 you are REALLY SURE‘ ICU COLL D GET? a). Artist wh o paints pictures that are exhibited in galleries b). Traveling salesman for a wholesale concern c). Chendst d). Truck driver e). @llege professor f). Street sweeper g). Building contractor h). Local official of a labor union i). Electrician j). Pes taurant waiter m 0 Fh If you were 30 YErDS OLD, which OH the jobs listed in this dues tion would you choos eif you were FREE TO CIOJSE .fY of them you wished? a). Owner of a factory that employs about 100 peOple L). Playground director C). Dentist d). Dh£erjaclz e). Scientist f). Shoeshiner g). Public school teacher h). u*n°r—ooerator of alunch stand i). Trainedn .achinist j). Dock worter INSTRUCTIONS: 66. 67. 68. 50 OEG-3-OSll70-l992 E34 3H1 model The following questions refer to your Opinion about education. Please answer BOTH questions, E/E” IF YOU MUST GUESS. how much education would YOU like to have if N JTHING stopped you from getting é§_ a). b). c). d). \A e). MUCH §§_YQU WANTED? (Check one answer) Quit school Finish high school Go to trade, business, secretarial or nursing school Go to college or university (one that gives credit toward a Bachelor's Degree) Get an advanced degree (Masters, Ph.D., or professional such as law or redicine) H ow muCh education are YOU REALLY SURE YOU WILL GET? (Check one ans-{Jer) a). b). c). d). e). Quit school Finish high school Go to trade, business secretarial or nursing school Go to college or university (one that gives credit toward a Bachelor's Degree) Get an advanced degree Elasters, Ph. D., or pr Ho essional such as law or medicine) HOE-'1 III II EIIIC .r GIT OI do you think ThII‘ PE 9301 IS YOU I’EIIT IOI- IED would LIKE {(JJ ’ 1 if IIUThING stopped you from gettIng a? HUCh a3 bJJ.;IuLD’ __- _— a). Quit school h). Finish high school c). Go to trade, business secretarial or nursing school d). Go to college or uni*ersity (one that gives credit to lard a Bachelor' 5 Degree e). Get an advanced degree (Masters, Fn.D., or professional suCh as law or medicine) I I I .ll.‘ III-(uhllll‘. ll. '1' I." III I.-. | Iii! SI 69. HOE’ IIUC H EDJC‘TION do you think the PERSJNS YO U ”TITIO"ID PEIII EXPECT {OU IO SE1? a). Quit school b). Finish high school c). Go to trade, business secretarial or nursing school d). Go to college or university (one that gives credit to ard a Bachelor's Degree) e). Get an advanced degree (Masters, Ph.D., or professional such as law or Hedicine) 70. THE KINDS OF EXTRA—CUERICULAR ACTIVITIES IN WHICH I PARTICIPATE LRE: (Check the ones in Whi -h you participate regularly, and add to the list if necessary) ( ) Athletics ( ) Annual ( ) Band-orchestra ( ) Student government ( ) Chorus -vocal ( ) Hobby club ( ) Dramatic ( ) Other ( ) Deb'tes ( ) ( ) H—H or PEA ( ) ( ) Sc ool paper ( ) 71. MFA? 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I.:J.I APPBIDIX C I‘ll III! Ii .III I! III I! ‘Ill ‘I APPE IDEK C Significant Other Telephone Protocol Name Identification Number Address Telephone Number Focal Individual 1. 2. 3. 1+. l§t_Attempt 2nd_Attempt 3rd_Attempt Date Date Date Time Time Time Hello, I'nx from Michigan State University. We are erforming a study about career choices in c00peration with Nil iamston High School. I have a few questions I'd like to ask you. This will only take a few minutes and I'd be very grateful for your cOOperation. 0'. o'. o' C 0 U I d D (If there are any special problems, have them contact Dr. Joseph Woelfel, 5H0 South Kedzie Hall, 353-8825; or George Barnett, 513 South Kedzie Hall, 3S3—9u82.) 55 56 1) How long have you lived in Williamston? (years) 2) Have you completed your fornal education? (yes or no) (If yes, go to question 9) 3) How much education would you like to have if nothing stOpped you from getting as much as you wanted? (years) (note: 01 first grade 02 = 2nd grade 08 = grammar school degree 12 = high school degree 13 = one year of college, 333,). H) How much education are you really sure you will get? (code as above) (years) 5) What job or jobs would you most like to have when you finish your education? (List jobs) 6) What job or jobs do you really expect to have When you finish your education? 7) What job or jobs would you most like to have when you are 30 years old? ‘— 8) 9) 10) ll) 12) 12a) 13) 1M) 16) 17) 57 What job or jobs do you really expect to have when you are 3 years old? _—' How many years of school have you completed? (If still in school, what grade are you now in?) (years) (code as in 3) What is your current occupation? (What you do, not where you work.) Do you know (are you related to, the parent of, the sister or brother of) ? (If HO, go to question 21.) (focal individual‘s nane) How long have you known ? (years) (focal individualTs nane) (If relative, insert focal individual's age) How far do you live fron1(hinvher)? (answer in blocks) (e.g., 2 blocks, 1/2 block, 0 blocks [if sane householdl) Do you spend much tine with ? (Yes or No) (Name) a) How much? (Hours per week, average, estimate) (hours) b) About what fraction of that time do you talk about school or work? I (answer in percent) How much education would you like to have (Name) if nothing stOpped (her/him) from getting as much as (she/he) wanted? (code as in 3) How much education are you really sure (she/he) will get? (code as in 3) What job or jobs would you most like to get (Hare) when (her/his) education is over? 58 18) What job or jobs would you.nost like (her/him) to have when (he/she) is 30 years old? 19) What job or jobs do you really expect to get when (Hare) (his/her) education is over? 20) What job or jobs do you really expect (her/him) to have when (she/he) is 30 years old? 21) (Now if you don't mind, I'd like to ask how old you are) (years) THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION! 1Donald P. Cushman and Gordon Whiting, ”Human Action, Self— Conception and Cybernetics" (unpublished manuscript, Michigan State University, 1973), p. u. 2Ibid. Denise B. Kandel and Gerald S. Lesser, "Parental and Peer Influences on Educational Plans of Adolescents," American Sociological Review, 3H, 2 (April, 1969), p. 213. Donald P. Cushran, "Some Structural and Functional Implications of Se f-Concept ion to Society as aSystem” (unpublished _ranuscript, University of Wisconsin, 1969), p. l. SIbid. p O . . . . . For a detailed discuSSion of Structural- Functionalism see Iorm Fontes, "Structural-Functionalism: An Attempt to Delineate a It;0d01? gy for Theory Construction" (unpublished ranuscript, hichigan e A "nomic prerdse” is the minor premise in a practical syllogism. It is a causal statement about nature that ought to be observable. It is a specification of the means to achieving the goal or neans of getting what we want. 8A total of 60 hypotheses were tested in this analysis. Fifty- six of these hypotheses were concerned with the development of occup ational expectations. Since the model being deveIOped in this .alysis focused upon educational expectations, only those hypotheses concerned with educational expectations were reported here. Results from the remaining hypotheses will be made available up on request. 9Because of the complexity of the methods used to assess the reliability and validity of this instrument the coefficients cannot be 59 60 reported here. For an extensive discussion of this issue see Archibald O. Haller and Joseph Woelfel, "Significant Others and Their Expectations: Concepts and Instruments to Measure Interpersonal Influence on Status Aspirations,” Rural Sociology, 37, M (December, 1972). lOi rH Donald P. Cushman and B. Thomas Florence, "The Development of Interpersonal Communication Theory" (paper presented at the Speech Commmnication Association Convention, New York, N.Y., November, 1973), f p. a. ll . . . . . For an extensive discussion of this construct see Curt Mettlin and Joseph Woelfel, "Interpersonal Influence and Symptoms of Stress” (unpublished manuscript, Michigan State University, 1973). Ibid., p. 6. - 13Sixteen of these adolescents had to be excluded from the analysis because their significant others either could not be contacted or refused to be interviewed. H . . . Given the manner in which the stress scores were computed a negative beta weight indicates a positive relationship between dis- parity in expectations and stress. 15v 0 O Hypotheses concerning the amount of influence that peer and blood relative networks exert upon the develOpment of adolescents' occupational expectations were also tested in this analysis although they are not being reported upon here. 1 6 ‘I ’ v. Warren S. Torgerson, Theory and Methods of Scaling, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1965), pp. 13—40. l7 . . . . . . For one Vieprint supporting this pOSition see Gerald R. Miller and Mark Steinberg, Communicating Interpersonally (Palo Alto, Calif.: Science Research Associates, 197H), in press. Alexander, C. Norman, Jr., and Ernest Q. Campbell. "Peer Influences on Adolescent Educational Aspirations and Attainments." American Sociological Review, 29 (196H), 568—575. Cohen, E. G. "Parental Factors in Educational Mobility.” Sociology of Education, 33 (1965), MOS—M25. Cushman, Donald P. "Some Structural and Functional Implications of Self—Conception to Society as a System." Unpublished menu— script, University of Wisconsin, 1969. Cushran, Donald P., and B. Thomas Florence. "The Development of Interpersonal Communication Theory." Paper presented at the Speech Communication Association Convention, New York, H.Y., 1 V 1.. (x r novemuer, 1373. Cushmen, Donald P., and Gordon Whiting. ”Human Action, Self- Conception and Cybernetics." Unpublished manuscript, Michigan State University, 1973. Fontes, Norm. "Structural-Functionalism: An Attempt to Delineate a Methodology for Theory Construction." Unpublished manuscript, Michigan State University, 1973. Fontes, hormu Michael Poloff, John Hocking, and Richard Bechtel. ”An Application of Forced Aggregate Theory in Family Communication Networks.” Contributed paper at the International Communication Association Convention, Montreal, Quebec, April, 1973. Haller3 A. 0., and C. E. Butterworth. "Peer Influences on Levels of Occupational and Educational Aspirations." Social Fo-ce 38 (1950), 2897295. (a 3: Heller, Archibald O., and Joseph Woelfel. "Significant Others and Their Expectations: Concepts and Instruments to Measure Interpersonal Influence on Status Aspirations.” Rural Sociologi, 37, A (December, 1972), 591—622. 61 62 Herriot, R. E. "Some Social Determinants of Educational Aspiration." Harvard Education Review I, 33 (1963), 157- 177. Kahl, J. A. "Educational and Occupational ASpiration of 'Common Han' Boys." Harvard Educational Review, 23 (1963), 186—203. Eandel, Denise B., and Gerald S. Lesser. "Parental and Peer Influences on Educational Plans of Adolescents." American Sociological Review, 3H, 2 (A -pril, 1969), 213—223. Langer, Thomas B. "A Twenty-Two Item Screening Score of Psychiatric Symptoms Indicating Impairment." Journal of Health and Human Behavior, 3 (1962), 269—276. McDill, E. L., and J. . Coleman. ”Family and Peer Influences in College Plans 01 Hi igh School Students." Sociology of Education, 38 (196 5), 112-126. 9‘1 (I) Hettlin, Curt, and Joseph Woelfel. "Interpersonal Influence and Symptoms of Stress.” Unpublished manuscript, Michigan State University, 1973. Miller, Gerald P., and Mark Steinberg. Communicating Interpersonally. Palo Alto: Science Research Associates,i in press Ostrander, Edward P., and Lorraine H. Snyder. "The Importance of Adolescent I.’orme.” Journal of Extension,8 , 2 (1979), 27—32. Rehberg, R. A., and D. L. Westby. "Parental Encouragement, Occupation and Family Size: Artifactual or Independent Determinants of Adolescent Educational Expectation." Social Force, ”6 (1967), Sewell, W. H., and V. P. Shah. "Social Class, Parental Encouragement, and Educational Aspiratni ns. ” A.merican Jc Jurnal of Sociology, 73 (1963a), 553— 572. Sewell, W. H., and V. P. Shah. "Parents' Education and Children's Educational Aspirations and Achievements.” American Sociological Review, 33 (1963b), 191-2 J9. Tor gerson, Warren S. Theory and Methods of Scalir g. New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1963. HICHIGQN STRTE UNIV. LIBRQRIES 31293105184570