– Student interest in science was most strongly associated with career aspirations.
– Parental values and expectations explained student interest, self-concept, achievement, and career aspirations.
– There were strong associations of parental expectations with a child’s career aspirations, moderate to strong associations with student motivation, and a moderate association with a student’s science achievement.
– Boys had a slightly higher interest in science and a higher self-concept than girls. Correspondingly, girls did not pursue careers in scientific fields as often as boys did.
– There was a significant difference between the self-concept of boys and girls in science only. When parents valued science as important in general, boys showed a significantly higher self-concept than girls did.
– Parental expectations were more strongly related to the interest, self-concept, and achievement of boys than it was to that of girls. In contrast, the high expectations of parents predicted career
aspirations in science equally well for boys and girls.
– In general, parents had higher expectations of their daughters than they did of their sons.
– With respect to the motivation of both boys and girls, parental expectations for a child’s career aspirations in science are more important than parental values are.
2015 - The Role of Parental Values and Child-specific Expectations in the Science Motivation and Achievement of Adolescent Girls and Boys
According to the expectancy-value model of achievement-related choices, parents, teachers, and other socializers play an active role in shaping an adolescent’s motivation, achievement, and career aspirations. This study examines the extent to which these factors are related to an adolescent’s learning motivation, achievement, and career aspirations.
The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). In the 2006 survey, Germany took the option of a parental survey as well as an additional grade-based sampling (random sampling of entire ninth grade classes).
The final sample consisted of 4188 ninth-graders (51.4% female) and their parents. A parental questionnaire was available for 3509 students (84% of the total sample).
Except where otherwise noted, the response format in the questionnaires was a four-point rating scale ranging from “strongly agree” to “strongly disagree.”
DV: Adolescent’s interest in learning about science and enjoyment of science-related activities, Science self-concept, Science achievement (standardized test scores)
IV: Student gender, Parental perceptions of the societal value of science, Parental perceptions of the personal value of science, Parental valuing of science for the child’s future, Parental expectations of the child’s career aspirations in science