Social Status Attainment of “Common Man” Young Adults: Kahl's Study Extended

Abstract

In this follow-up study of an earlier investigation (Marjoribanks, 1995), relationships were examined between perceptions of parents' getting-ahead—getting-by orientations, adolescents' aspirations, and the social status attainment of young adults from differing contexts defined by intellectual ability and family social status. Data were collected from 350 Australian 21-year-olds as part of a longitudinal analysis. The results from this study and the previous investigation suggest that (a) adolescents' perceptions of parents' getting-ahead—getting-by orientations are related strongly to their aspirations; (b) relationships between perceptions of parents' support for learning and young adults' social status attainment are mediated by adolescents' educational aspirations and, in part, by their occupational aspirations; and (c) there are ability/social status context differences in the nature of the relationships between parents' getting-ahead—getting-by orientations, adolescents' aspirations, and young adults' social status attainment.