Realistic Aspirations Research Articles

Expecting less in hard times: How the state of the economy influences students’ educational expectations

Students’ realistic aspirations about their educational attainment (expectations) are predictive of their efforts, actions, and future outcomes. Limited evidence suggests these expectations are affected by the macroeconomy; however, the direction is ambiguous. We combine seven waves of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data to examine this relationship in 38 OECD countries. Using within-country fixed-effect regressions, we find students have significantly lower educational expectations when GDP growth is low or negative. Assessing the heterogeneity of these relationships, we find that the expectations of students with below-average reading skills or who attend non-metropolitan schools are most strongly affected by the state of the economy. The results also suggest that when GDP growth is weak, students are significantly more likely to complete zero homework and arrive late to school, are less likely to participate in extracurricular academic programs, and expect lower labour market returns to completed education.

High realistic aspirations – Do normative pressures overthrow rational calculations? Applying the model of frame selection to the educational aspirations of immigrant and majority students in Germany

Educational aspirations are of interest to scholars in several disciplines. They can affect multiple aspects of educational success and have been shown to differ between major social groups. Explanations for educational aspirations typically link to two main models of aspiration formation: the Wisconsin model (WM) and rational choice theory (RCT). Whereas the WM highlights significant others’ educational norms, RCT cites cost-benefit calculations to explain how aspirations are formed. As it is still unclear how the two approaches interrelate, we apply a third model, namely the model of frame selection (MFS), which allows the integration of both WM and RCT arguments. In short, it suggests that the importance of others’ educational norms moderates the relevance of own cost-benefit calculations. We assume that considering this interrelation is fruitful when explaining aspirations in general, and specifically when explaining immigrant students’ aspirations, who often perceive high educational obligations by their parents. Using data from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we test prognoses derived from the three theoretical models for their relevance when explaining the aspirations of Turkish and German students. Results indicate that the processes suggested by both WM and RCT shape aspirations. Consistent with the MFS, these processes also interrelate in that parents’ educational norms reduce the relevance of students’ own cost-benefit calculations. This interrelation does not only apply to Turkish students but holds for all students in the sample.

Comparative study on hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in dogs and cats

Now, more than 50 years later, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has been transformed from a rare and largely untreatable condition into a common genetic disease with management strategies that allow realistic aspirations for improved quality of life and advanced longevity. Cardiomyopathy is defined as a primary disease of the myocardium. Most animal cardiomyopathies are idiopathic diseases that are not the result of systemic heart disease or other primary heart disease. The cause has been identified in some cases as a genetic mutation and in others as an inherited trait. In animals (mainly dogs and cats), cardiomyopathies are classified as dilated cardiomyopathy, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and restrictive cardiomyopathy. The present study addresses, comparatively, the topic of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in dogs and cats.

Do Performance Aspirations Matter for Guiding Software Configuration Tuning? An Empirical Investigation under Dual Performance Objectives

Configurable software systems can be tuned for better performance. Leveraging on some Pareto optimizers, recent work has shifted from tuning for a single, time-related performance objective to two intrinsically different objectives that assess distinct performance aspects of the system, each with varying aspirations to be satisfied, e.g., “ the latency is less than 10s ” while “ the memory usage is no more than 1GB ”. Before we design better optimizers, a crucial engineering decision to make therein is how to handle the performance requirements with clear aspirations in the tuning process. For this, the community takes two alternative optimization models: either quantifying and incorporating the aspirations into the search objectives that guide the tuning, or not considering the aspirations during the search but purely using them in the later decision-making process only. However, despite being a crucial decision that determines how an optimizer can be designed and tailored, there is a rather limited understanding of which optimization model should be chosen under what particular circumstance, and why. In this article, we seek to close this gap. Firstly, we do that through a review of over 426 articles in the literature and 14 real-world requirements datasets, from which we summarize four performance requirement patterns that quantify the aspirations in the configuration tuning. Drawing on these, we then conduct a comprehensive empirical study that covers 15 combinations of the state-of-the-art performance requirement patterns, four types of aspiration space, three Pareto optimizers, and eight real-world systems/environments, leading to 1,296 cases of investigation. Our findings reveal that (1) the realism of aspirations is the key factor that determines whether they should be used to guide the tuning; (2) the given patterns and the position of the realistic aspirations in the objective landscape are less important for the choice, but they do matter to the extents of improvement; (3) the available tuning budget can also influence the choice for unrealistic aspirations but it is insignificant under realistic ones. To promote open science practice, we make our code and dataset publicly available at: https://github.com/ideas-labo/aspiration-study .

Partnership and Higher Education: Do a Partner’s Educational Aspirations Influence a Student’s Dropout Intention?

In almost all OECD countries, a significant proportion of students drop out of their studies and, despite a long tradition of research, the influence of a partnership has hardly been analyzed in this context. This paper examines whether the expectations and demands (the realistic and idealistic aspirations) of the partner influence the student’s dropout intention. In a first step, relationships are investigated on the basis of a pooled data set. The results clearly show that there is a negative correlation such that when the partner has higher realistic aspirations the student is less likely to have high dropout intentions. In a second step, possible dynamics associated with the course of studies are considered. By means of fixed-effects regressions it can be shown that when the partner’s realistic aspirations increase, the dropout intention decreases. This effect proves to be stable. With regard to idealistic aspirations, however, none of the models show negative effects. The analysis shows that the partner is important for the course of studies and should also be considered.

Investigating the co-development of academic competencies and educational aspirations in German primary education

Academic achievement and educational decisions, which are strongly related to primary and secondary effects, are the two main drivers behind the emergence of social inequality in education. To understand this process in more detail, even before final decisions have to be made, the reciprocal influence of achievement and aspirations is of greatest interest. By not simply looking at an ultimate outcome but investigating its antecedents in a longitudinal fashion over the course of multiple years more insight is gained. Using German large-scale NEPS panel data, it is possible to demonstrate this co-development quantitatively. Cross-lagged panel models are utilized to show that the achievement in mathematics (measured by comprehensive achievement tests) and parental realistic aspirations influence each other positively in a statistically significant way over the course of primary education from grade one to four, even under the control of various potential confounding variables. Further analyses reveal that this process is socially stratified and works differently for lowly and highly educated families. Lower educated parents pay more attention to the performance of the child when adjusting their aspirations than tertiary educated parents, who always hold high aspirations. The results are of interest to understand in more detail how social inequality emerges at a very early point in the highly tracked German educational system.

Are They Still Aiming High? The Development of Educational Aspirations of Lower Secondary School Students With Immigrant Backgrounds in Germany

Although research indicates that students with immigrant backgrounds often have higher educational aspirations than students without immigrant backgrounds at the same performance level, little is known about the longitudinal development of this difference in aspirations. This article analyzes how idealistic and realistic educational aspirations from Grade 5 until Grade 9 in Germany develop for students from various migrant groups, compared with those without immigrant backgrounds at the same school track and at the same level of school performance. Drawing on different theoretical assumptions, we examine to what extent students (increasingly) adapt their aspirations to their school performance toward the end of compulsory schooling. Our empirical analysis uses data from the first five waves (Grades 5–9; 2010/11–2014/15) of the National Educational Panel Study in Germany ( N = 5,542). Random-effects model results show a positive association between students’ school performance and their idealistic and realistic aspirations, and this association tends to increase over time. However, there is no uniform pattern in students’ aspiration trajectories. Some migrant groups (Poland, Southern Europe, former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) have similar aspiration trajectories as students without immigrant backgrounds at the same performance level, while other groups (Turkey, Northern and Western Europe, and others) maintain higher idealistic aspirations. Controlling for school performance, only students of Turkish origin also maintain higher realistic aspirations until Grade 9. These findings allow us to better understand the conditions behind the educational disadvantages of some migrant groups and offer insights into how best to further mitigate inequalities in educational outcomes.

Investigating the role of educational aspirations as central mediators of secondary school track choice in Germany

Educational aspirations are known to be one of the most relevant predictors of secondary school choice after finishing elementary school in the German educational system. Since aspirations themselves mostly derive from the social background of a family, the question arises whether aspirations can be understood as a mediating factor explaining how social origin determines choice of school. In addition to that, it would be of great interest to disentangle parental and filial aspirations to better understand which factor is more relevant for the decision. After proposing a unified theoretical model that accounts for both primary and secondary effects of social origin, the analyses attempt to quantify the share that is mediated through aspirations and hence test the model empirically. Using large scale panel data, I can demonstrate that aspirations explain a considerable share of the variance of the decision for choosing a school track in secondary education (ca. 24% points). The following analyses estimate that the indirect effect of social origin that is mediated through aspirations amounts to almost 80%, which means that the residual pathway must therefore be small in comparison. Detailed analyses reveal that especially parental realistic aspirations explain the major share of this effect (about 42%) and their aspirations will be decisive when conflicting with the aspirations of their children.

IS TIME PERSPECTIVE A PREDICTOR FOR EDUCATIONAL ASPIRATIONS?

BackgroundThe construct of time perspective (TP) describes how people experience the past, the present, and the future (Lewin, 1951; Zimbardo & Boyd, 1999). TP does also affect expectations and goals towards the future (Zimbardo & Boyd, 2008). To measure TP, Zimbardo and Boyd (1999) developed the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventory (ZTPI). In newer developments of this questionnaire (e.g., Kostal et al., 2015), 6 dimensions of time perspective are distinguished: past-negative (e.g., “I often think of what I should have done differently in my life”), past-positive (e.g., “It gives me pleasure to think about my past”), present-fatalistic (e.g., “Since whatever will be will be, it doesn’t really matter what I do”), present-hedonistic (e.g., “I take risks to put excitement in my life”), future-negative (e.g., “To think about my future makes me sad”), and future-positive (e.g., “I complete projects on time by making steady progress”). Several correlation analyses have been done confirming relationships between TP and other relevant psychological variables, like, for example, depression and neuroticism (van Beek et al., 2011), mental health (Gilbert & Sifers, 2011), well-being (Zhang et al., 2013), and substance abuse (Barnett et al., 2013). However, rarely, if ever, has been investigated whether TP is related to educational aspirations. Since educational aspirations entail expectations or wishes of an individual in regard to her or his future academic achievements (Klapproth, 2020), it seems reasonable to assume that a high level of educational aspirations would correspond with a high level of positive time perspective. Similarly, educational aspirations should negatively relate to present (both fatalistic and hedonistic) time perspective.Subjects and MethodsIn the present study, N = 134 undergraduates (73.9 % female, mean age = 22.1 years, SD = 3.6), enrolled in a psychology study program in a German university, participated and provided information about their educational aspirations and their time perspective. Aspirations were measured by the participants’ wishes (idealistic aspirations) and expectations (realistic aspirations) about their final grades and their further academic career. TP was assessed by the administration of the ZTPI scale (Kostal et al., 2015).ResultsBivariate correlation analyses showed a significant negative relationship between the expected final grade and future-positive TP, r = -.18, p = .037, a significant positive relationship between the expected final grade and future-negative TP, r = .17, p = .049, and a significant negative relationship between expecting a doctoral degree and present-fatalistic TP, r = -.28, p = .001. All further correlations were not significant.ConclusionsThe results show that whereas realistic educational aspirations had some relationships with TP, idealistic aspirations were not related to TP. This result suggests that TP is a personality variable affecting (realistic) expectations more than (idealistic) wishes. Moreover, it can be assumed from the results obtained that educational careers, which largely depend on educational aspirations, are constrained by TP. Students who are positively oriented towards the future are more likely to develop high level aspirations and therefore may be more successful in the future in terms of grades and educational outcomes.

Rethinking agrochemical safety assessment: A perspective

Agrochemical safety assessment has traditionally relied on the use of animals for toxicity testing, based on scientific understanding and test guidelines developed in the 1980s. However, since then, there have been significant advances in the toxicological sciences that have improved our understanding of mechanisms underpinning adverse human health effects. The time is ripe to ‘rethink’ approaches used for human safety assessments of agrochemicals to ensure they reflect current scientific understanding and increasingly embrace new opportunities to improve human relevance and predictivity, and to reduce the reliance on animals. Although the ultimate aim is to enable a paradigm shift and an overhaul of global regulatory data requirements, there is much that can be done now to ensure new opportunities and approaches are adopted and implemented within the current regulatory frameworks. This commentary reviews current initiatives and emerging opportunities to embrace new approaches to improve agrochemical safety assessment for humans, and considers various endpoints and initiatives (including acute toxicity, repeat dose toxicity studies, carcinogenicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, exposure-driven approaches, inhalation toxicity, and data modelling). Realistic aspirations to improve safety assessment, incorporate new technologies and reduce reliance on animal testing without compromising protection goals are discussed.

ЗВ’ЯЗОК САМОТНОСТІ З КОМПОНЕНТАМИ МОТИВАЦІЙНОЇ СФЕРИ ЖІНОК З РІЗНИХ СОЦІАЛЬНИХ ГРУП

The article reveals the connection between loneliness and the components of the motivational sphere for women from different social groups. An intergroup comparison was made and statistically significant differences in women’s life-affirming basic aspirations, unsatisfied motivating needs and life-meaning components were identified depending on women’s group affiliation. The positive, harmony basic aspirations prevailed over negative aspirations in groups of women living at the temporarily occupied territory, women displaced from the temporarily occupied territory, the disabled and Kyivans; such aspirations acted as a stimulus for their personality development. They were characterized by: adequate self-evaluation, self-acceptance, self-esteem, desire for self-realization and self-development, a tendency to increase self-confidence and realistic aspirations. Religious women had certain contradictions in their aspirations, due to a combination of religious and social norms, requirements, rules and ideals in their lives. They were characterized by constant self-control, limitations in their aspirations and behavior that reduced their self-esteem, desire to put forward and achieve goals, as well as insecurity and dependence on their religious community, which made their life disharmonious. As for women who were in a correctional colony, they had mainly maladaptive, life-suppressing tendencies that blocked their progressive development and self-realization, evoking the disharmony of women's personalities and their lives in general. Unsatisfied motivating needs were revealed: in women living in the temporarily occupied territory and displaced women, such as poor financial situation, security, self-realization; in women with disabilities who needed for security and self-realization; Kyivan women who needed for self-realization; religious women who needed security; all needs of women in correctional facilities were only partially met. The life-meaning components of personality in five groups of women, except for women from the penal colony, were subjectively assessed as conscious, interesting, meaningful, with perspective. The women from the penal colony were hopeless, meaningless, without purposes and uninterested. Statistically significant differences between groups of women are presented in the article.

Learners’ educational aspirations in South Africa: The role of the home and the school

An extensive body of research exists on the background characteristics that predict learner achievement. However, in South Africa, little attention has been paid to the level of educational aspirations and the factors that shape the level of aspirations. Using a bio-ecological systems theory of development, we explored the role of gender, socio-economic status (determined by resources at home and school), parental involvement and school climate in determining educational aspirations. Using a nationally representative sample of 11,969 learners (females = 5,248; mean age = 15.7 years) from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the statistical analysis technique of structural equation modelling (SEM), we investigated the relationships between parental involvement, school climate and learner educational aspirations. Our study showed that students from low socio-economic status (SES) homes and schools had lower educational aspirations. We also found positive relationships between both positive and negative school climate and learner aspirations. A surprising finding was that parental involvement did not have any influence on shaping learner aspirations. The findings indicate a need to improve educational resources at schools as well as the school climate, as schools matter for learners in low-income countries. Furthermore, it is important to inform learners of the requirements for tertiary education, so that they develop more realistic aspirations. Keywords: home resources; learner educational aspirations; parental involvement; school climate; school socio-economic status

Determinants of students\u2019 idealistic and realistic educational aspirations in elementary school

Although the social stratification of educational aspirations is well documented for parents and adolescents, current educational inequality research largely ignores the perspective of children. To learn more about the involvement of children in the emergence and reproduction of social disparities, we examine children’s educational aspirations during elementary school. Based on the Wisconsin model, rational choice approaches, and the theory of cultural reproduction, our explorative investigation aims to identify determinants of young students’ idealistic and realistic aspirations. We utilize a sample of 4947 third grade students from Starting Cohort 2 of the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS). The multivariate results indicate that students’ aspirations are influenced by their parents’ social position and aspirations, whereby the students’ self-rated rational choice indicators assert the greatest impact.

Transformative Learning

On entering prison, prisoners lose their home, their possessions and their very identity as a person, becoming just a number. Transformative learning through Prison-based Higher-level Distance Learning (PHDL) can be the vehicle by which prisoners begin to find a new positive identity as a student. This article argues that PHDL, post-secondary self-study using distance-learning materials, is potentially transformative, leading to positive changes in personal and social identity and making a positive difference to learners' lives during and after incarceration. The study on which this article is based, investigates perceptions of transformative learning for ex-prisoners and prisoners (men and women) who were due for release from 10 prisons in England and Wales. Using the ‘voices' of the participants, this article describes their learning journeys, the motivation to study and the network of support required to overcome the extreme difficulties of study in prison. Although results varied from prison to prison, participation in PHDL produced psychological outcomes including, increased self-awareness, positive identity and resilience. The article concludes that PHDL encourages positive personal change in incarcerated students through transformative learning, with raised hope and realistic aspirations for continuation of learning, employment and a brighter future upon release.

Aspirations of Small-Scale Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Urban Retailers in Indonesia

Small-scale entrepreneurs are ubiquitous in emerging market economies, yet very few graduate to become larger businesses. This paper asks whether such entrepreneurs aspire to grow and, if so, on which dimensions of the business? What factors influence these aspirations, how realistic are they, and do entrepreneurs dynamically update them based on realized outcomes? A unique panel data set of small-scale retailers in Indonesia is used to show that the average business has strong short- and long-term aspirations for growth in shop size, number of employees, number of customers, and sales. Yet, more than 50 percent of the businesses report no aspirations for growth in the next 12 months, and 16 percent fail to imagine an ideal business over the long term. Entrepreneurs with low profits, business skills, and agency beliefs, as well as those who are older, female, and less educated have significantly lower aspirations. Analysis from a year later shows that most entrepreneurs fail to set realistic aspirations at baseline, but significantly adjust their aspirations to realistic levels with realized outcomes. The analysis also shows that baseline aspirations are a strong predictor of measures of business expansion and innovation, as well as performance outcomes a year later.

Lessons from HeLa Cells: The Ethics and Policy of Biospecimens.

Human biospecimens have played a crucial role in scientific and medical advances. Although the ethical and policy issues associated with biospecimen research have long been the subject of scholarly debate, the story of attention of a much broader audience. The story has been a catalyst for policy change, including major regulatory changes proposed in the United States surrounding informed consent. These proposals are premised in part on public opinion data, necessitating a closer look at what such data tell us. The development of biospecimen policy should be informed by many considerations—one of which is public input, robustly gathered, on acceptable approaches that optimize shared interests, including access for all to the benefits of research. There is a need for consent approaches that are guided by realistic aspirations and a balanced view of autonomy within an expanded ethical framework.

Adjusting Your Dreams? The Effect of School and Peers on Dropout Behaviour

At the end of middle school, many low achieving students have to abandon hope of getting into selective high-school programs, which may be a source of disappointment and eventually lead them to dropout from high-school. Based on a randomized controlled trial, this paper shows that low-achieving students' aspirations can be made more realistic through a series of meetings facilitated by the school principals and that more realistic aspirations are followed by a significant reduction in grade repetition and high-school dropout. Building on detailed information on friendship networks within classes, we also find evidence that improved outcomes in treated classes encompass improved social interactions between low achieving students and their high achieving classmates.

Toward a Comprehensive Characterization of a Human Cancer Cell Phosphoproteome

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based phosphoproteomics has achieved extraordinary success in qualitative and quantitative analysis of cellular protein phosphorylation. Considering that an estimated level of phosphorylation in a cell is placed at well above 100,000 sites, there is still much room for improvement. Here, we attempt to extend the depth of phosphoproteome coverage while maintaining realistic aspirations in terms of available material, robustness, and instrument running time. We developed three strategies, where each provided a different balance between these three key parameters. The first strategy simply used enrichment by Ti(4+)-IMAC followed by reversed chromatography LC-MS (termed 1D). The second strategy incorporated an additional fractionation step through the use of HILIC (2D). Finally, a third strategy was designed employing first an SCX fractionation, followed by Ti(4+)-IMAC enrichment and additional fractionation by HILIC (3D). A preliminary evaluation was performed on the HeLa cell line. Detecting 3700 phosphopeptides in about 2 h, the 1D strategy was found to be the most sensitive but limited in comprehensivity, mainly due to issues with complexity and dynamic range. Overall, the best balance was achieved using the 2D based strategy, identifying close to 17,000 phosphopeptides with less than 1 mg of material in about 48 h. Subsequently, we confirmed the findings with the K562 cell sample. When sufficient material was available, the 3D strategy increased phosphoproteome allowing over 22,000 unique phosphopeptides to be identified. Unfortunately, the 3D strategy required more time and over 1 mg of material before it started to outperform 2D. Ultimately, combining all strategies, we were able to identify over 16,000 and nearly 24,000 unique phosphorylation sites from the cancer cell lines HeLa and K562, respectively. In summary, we demonstrate the need to carry out extensive fractionation for deep mining of the phosphoproteome and provide a guide for appropriate strategies depending on sample amount and/or analysis time.

Why is Housing Always Satisfactory? A Study into the Impact of Preference and Experience on Housing Appreciation.

This study focuses on residents’ perceptions of residential quality concerning 23 different dwelling aspects. Respondents were asked to indicate their appreciation of these dwelling aspects on a scale ranging from 0 (“extremely unattractive”) to 100 (“extremely attractive”). The influence of two potential factors on the appreciation of dwelling aspects is examined: (1) preference and (2) experience. It was hypothesized that residents who live according to their preferences give higher appreciation scores than residents who do not. This should even apply to low-quality housing. Furthermore, it was argued that residents appreciate their current housing situation more than residents who do not live in that particular housing situation. This effect should be independent of preference. The impact of both preference and of experience could be confirmed. The results also showed an interaction effect between preference and experience: the positive effect of experience on appreciation is larger in residents who live in a housing situation that they do not prefer. This result would be expected if the impact of experience works to decrease the ‘gap’ in residential satisfaction due to the discrepancy between what residents have and what they want. In conclusion, why is housing always satisfactory? In this paper, housing is satisfactory because the ‘gap’ between what residents want and what they have is small; residents seem to have realistic aspirations. Furthermore, residents appreciate what they already have, even if this is not what they prefer.

Grade Expectations: Informed or Uninformed Optimism, or Both?

We investigated optimistic grade expectations among 258 college students from 2 contrasting perspectives: optimism as uninformed wishfulness and as an informed aspirational judgment. Results revealed considerable grade optimism; most students (70%) overestimated an average of 1 full grade. Grade expectations moderately predicted final grade but not course effort after adjusting for cumulative grade point average (GPA). Grade optimism and predictive accuracy differed as a function of GPA. For most students (upper two thirds on GPA), grade expectations accurately predicted performance, suggesting a mixture of self-knowledge and realistic aspirations, or informed optimism. For less accomplished students, grade optimism may be more uninformed wishfulness, the solution to which may be student skill improvement.