Compromises in adolescents' occupational aspirations and expectations from grades 8 to 10

This study examined compromises in occupational aspirations made by adolescents who reported aspiration-expectation discrepancies. Participants were 502 adolescents (245 male, 257 female) who reported their occupational aspirations and expectations in Grades 8, 9, and 10. Occupations were coded for gender traditionality and socioeconomic status (SES). Adolescents who showed aspiration-expectation discrepancies in gender traditionality or SES, in either Grade 8 or Grade 9, changed their aspirations in the following year in the direction of their prier expectations. Substantial reductions were made in mean aspiration-expectation discrepancies and only 26 to 43% of discrepant adolescents were classified in the same discrepancy group a year later. Changes in adolescents' expectations also contributed to reductions in mean discrepancies. Obtained results provide support for Gottfredson's (1981, 1996) compromise theory and raise questions about the role of expectation changes in the compromise process. (C) 2000 Academic Press.