Social Status and Guidance Involvement

Abstract

This is a study of the relationships of 3 measures of social stratification to students' utilization of school guidance services and knowledgeability about chosen vocation. A survey of students in 8 high schools suggests that, in a majority of the groups studied, social status of parents and projected social status of the student (based upon chosen occupation) are positively related to knowledgeability about chosen career. The extent of the student's utilization of career guidance services was related to his social status within the microcosm of the school as defined by amount of participation in valued extracurricular activities. Parental and projected social status measures did not appear to be so consistently related to utilization of career guidance. The degree of the student's participation in other guidance services not directed at career planning was, in a majority of the groups studied, negatively related to the social status of the student's parents.