Do Parents' Educational Expectations in Adolescence Predict Adult Life Satisfaction?

Abstract

ObjectiveTo examine the extent to which parents' educational expectations for adolescents are associated with children's life satisfaction in adulthood and whether that association is mediated by adolescents' individual characteristics.BackgroundLife satisfaction is acknowledged to be an important goal in a child's developmental path. However, less is known about the long‐term influence of parental expectations on adolescents' positive life outcomes and how functioning in adolescents aside from parental expectations is related to these long‐term associations.MethodUsing data from the 2 cohorts of high school students and their parents who participated in the Longitudinal Study of American Youth from 1991 to 2010 (N = 2,289), direct and indirect paths from parental expectations to adulthood life satisfaction were tested within the structural equation modeling framework.ResultsParents' higher educational expectations for adolescents were positively related to their children's life satisfaction 2 decades later via children's expectations, self‐esteem, and educational attainment. Parents' expectations were associated with higher self‐esteem in the adolescent years through adolescents' expectations, which ultimately predicted adolescents' life satisfaction as adults.ConclusionThe level of expectations parents have for their children are related to their adolescents' life satisfaction 2 decades later, perhaps because expectations are associated with adolescents' educational attainment and self‐esteem.ImplicationsFamily practitioners and educators are encouraged to educate adolescents' parents about the link between their educational expectations and long‐term educational attainment and life satisfaction for their children in adulthood.