Learning what I want to be when I grow up: the contextual effects of schools on student locus of control and the development of student occupational aspirations

Abstract

This research examines the interaction between the environment of schools and the choices of students at a time when they are developing and committing to occupational aspirations which may significantly affect both their educational and occupational outcomes, and analyzes the hypothesis that the context of schools may impact student occupational aspirations indirectly by influencing student locus of control or student academic achievement. Utilizing a large, nationally representative longitudinal dataset, this study contributes to the educational research in two important ways: first, by analyzing whether locus of control or academic achievement are mechanisms by which schools have an effect on student occupational aspirations and secondly, by examining the effect of schools on student locus of control and student occupational aspirations over time, both previously unstudied relationships. The study finds that despite previous literature citing the importance of schools in relation to student development, the contextual characteristics of schools studied do not indirectly influence the development of student occupational aspirations via student locus of control. However, one school contextual variable was found to have an indirect effect on occupational aspirations via student academic achievement.