Changes in academic aspirations and expectations among Asian American adolescents.

Abstract

Aspirations and expectations are critical to academic attainment and success, yet little is known about how they change over the high school years. With longitudinal data from 157 Asian American adolescents (60% female), we examined normative and within-person changes in aspirations and expectations, and associations with psychological adjustment. Results suggest that, at the group level, aspirations are relatively stable, but expectations increase over time. At the intraindividual level, higher family obligation attitudes were associated with higher aspirations reported from year to year. Higher ethnic centrality was marginally related to higher expectations, whereas higher perceived discrimination was associated with lower expectations. Although expectations were associated with higher self-esteem, aspirations had adverse associations with well-being. Closer alignment of aspirations with expectations was associated with healthier psychosocial outcomes.