“What would you want to be when you’re growing up?”

Links between family functioning

and young people’s aspirations/purpose in life.

Carla Crespo, Paul Jose and Jan Pryor

Roy McKenzie Centre for the Study of Families

Victoria University of Wellington

Involve 08: Relate, July 2-4 2008,  Wellington

                                                                            

“In youth, you find out what you care to do and who you care to be…”

Erik Erikson

Who will I become?

Will I live at home forever or

start flatting soon?

What do I want to study?

Will I go to Uni?

What are the top 3 things I like to

do in my free time?

Will my friends move from town?

How do I feel about travelling? And…how can I afford it?

Is part-time work a good option?

Vocational development

“The process of career development is vital in positive adolescent development’

(Super, 1985)

What has changed in our understanding of careers, vocational dimensions and future selves, etc.?

Matching vs Building

Specific choices vs Life-span approach

Individual characteristics vs Individual in context

Career specific vs Whole of life

Young people’s

vocational development

Family functioning

Family context:

What predicts vocational development?

(Aspirations/purpose in life)

Monitoring and Supervision

Encouragement of autonomy

Research findings so far:

Young people consider that parents are somewhat responsible for their vocational development(Farnill, 1986)

Quality of family relationships plays a role in young people’s confidence in career planning activities and ability to formulate career goals(Hargrove et al., 2001)

Parental support has a direct effect in young people’s vocational expectations(Diemer, 2007)

We’re yet to know:

-More about the nature of the link between family dimensions and vocational outcomes

(aspirations, expectations, values, interests, etc.)

-How and if this link changes through time.

More empirical research is needed!

Current Youth Connectedness study

1. Examined the links between young people’s Aspirations/purpose in life and

-Family monitoring and supervision

-Family encouragement of autonomy

2. We also examined if these links were influenced by young people’s

-Gender

-Age

-Belonging to groups outside schools

-Having a part-time job

Measures

1. Aspirations/purpose in life

(4 items)

-I often think about my future (what I want to do with my life)

-I work hard now to create a good future for myself

-I’m the sort of person who sets goals and works hard to achieve them

-I am serious about working hard now so that I have a good future

Adapted from Ryff Wellbeing Scales (1995)

2. Family monitoring and supervision (3 items)

-Someone in my family/whanau tells me there are certain TV shows or

movies I can’t watch

-If I go somewhere after school, I have to tell someone in my

family/whanau where I’m going

-Someone in my family/whanau makes sure I don’t stay up too late at night

Measures

4. Have part-time job?

1 item: Yes/No

5. Belong to groups outside school?

(sports, dance, church, etc.)1 item: Yes/No

3. Family autonomy (3 items) Someone in my family/whanau encourages me to make my own decisions

Someone in my family/whanau makes me feel that what I have to say is important

Someone in my family/whanau encourages me to talk about how I see things

Adapted from the Family Climate Inventory (1995)

Sample

Who are the participants?

1950 young people who participated in the Youth Connectedness Project

(Time 1- 2006 and Time 2-2007)

Numbers of boys and girls?

946 Boys

1004 Girls

How old?

At Time 1…

755 were 10-11 years old

616 were 12-13 years old

590 were 14-15 years old

One Main Hypothesis…

Higher levels of family monitoring and supervision and family autonomy (time

1) will be linked to higher levels of aspirations/purpose in life (time 2)

Many questions…

Are aspirations/purpose in life (time 1) linked to family monitoring and supervision and family autonomy at time 2?

Does it matter, in this case, if young people have part-time job, belong to groups outside school, are younger or older, or are boys or girls?

And how do aspirations/purpose in life change over time?

Results

I

Descriptives

Getting started….

Year 1 Year 2

Age

10-11

Boys < Girls

Age

12-13

Boys < Girls

12-13 No difference 14-15 No difference

14-15 No difference 16-17 No difference

Aspirations/purpose in life:

Are they the same for boys and girls?

3.9

3.95

4

4.05

4.1

4.15

Younger group Middle group Older group

Boys' age groupA

sp

ira

tio

ns

in

lif

eTime 1 Time 2

3.9

3.95

4

4.05

4.1

4.15

4.2

4.25

4.3

4.35

Younger group Middle group Older group

Girls' age group

As

pir

ati

on

s i

n l

ife

Time 1 Time 2

Boys

Girls

- Young people who have a part-time job and young people who don’t are not

different in their levels of aspirations/purpose in life.

However, within the part-time work group, young people who think work has

benefits for them have higher levels of aspirations/purpose in life than those who

don’t.

What about belonging to groups outside school?

-Young people who belong to one or more groups outside school also have higher aspirations/purpose in life

What about part-time work?

Results

II

Main analyses

….

Family’s

monitoring

Time 1

Family’smonitoring

Time 2

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 1

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 2

.57**

.48**

.11**

.04*

Family’s monitoring and supervision and aspirations in life… across time

* p ‹ .05 ** p ‹ .01

Family’s

monitoring

Time 1

Family’smonitoring

Time 2

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 1

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 2

.57**

.48**

Family’s monitoring and supervision and aspirations in life across time

when young people have a part-time job

* p ‹ .05 ** p ‹ .01

Family’s

monitoring

Time 1

Family’smonitoring

Time 2

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 1

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 2

.57**

.48**

Family’s monitoring and supervision and aspirations in life across time

when young people belong to a group outside school

* p ‹ .05 ** p ‹ .01

.11**

Family’s

autonomy

Time 1

Family’s autonomy

Time 2

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 1

Aspirations/purpose in life

Time 2

.26**

.47**

.15**

.21**

Family’s autonomy and aspirations in life… across time

In the family autonomy model, no differences for…

-age -gender-having a part-time -belonging to a group outside school

Discussion

- Aspirations/purpose in life drop with age

-Gender differences between 10 and 13 years old: are they important?

-Having a part-time job is not linked to a change in aspirations/purpose in life (however, perceptions of benefits of work may play an important role).

Belonging to groups outside school is very positive to young people as it is linked (in both time 1 and time 2) to higher aspirations/purpose in life

Discussion

As we expected…

Family plays an important role in young people’s aspirations and purpose in life, namely through encouragement of autonomy and also monitoring and supervision.

Surprisingly…

We found a “two way street” in this relationship:

Young people’s higher aspirations in life (Time 1) are linked to higher levels of their family’s encouragement of autonomy, and their family’s monitoring and supervision (Time 2).

Conclusions

In relation to vocational development….

Young people may benefit from experiences that allow them to explore their interests, values, likes, dislikes…such as having a part-time work and belonging to a group outside school;

Family’s role is meaningful: more monitoring and supervision, and encouragement of autonomy are important dimensions that foster young people's vocational development;

Family: a secure context from which to launch young people’s vocational exploration, and one to return to for constructing meaning of their experiences.