Great Expectations Unmet: The Impact of Adolescent Educational Expectations on Deviant Behavior During the Transition to Adulthood
Open Access
- Author:
- Cundiff, Patrick Ryan
- Graduate Program:
- Crime, Law and Justice
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 31, 2013
- Committee Members:
- Jeremy Staff, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Jeremy Staff, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Duane Francis Alwin, Committee Member
Eric Silver, Committee Member
Jennifer Lianne Maggs, Special Member - Keywords:
- Adolescent Expectations
Education
Deviance
Strain - Abstract:
- This dissertation focuses on the relationship between adolescent educational aspirations and expectations, and deviant behavior in both the short- and longer-term using a theoretical framework derived from Strain and General Strain Theory. Using four waves of longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), I examine specifically the impact of these aspirations and expectations during the transition to adulthood. The dissertation is organized into three parts. The first part focuses on the short-term relationship between the disjunction between educational aspirations and expectations, as well as future orientation, and deviant behavior while still in high school (1 year after the initial survey). This part of the dissertation examines the short-term effects of adolescent educational aspirations and expectations, while considering the possibility of differential effects in relation to differences in socioeconomic status and adolescent cohort. Part two focuses on the longer-term relationship between the disjunction between expectations and actual outcomes and deviance; namely, the disjunction between the expectation of college attendance and actual college attendance, and the disjunction between the expectation of college graduation and actual college graduation. As with the analyses in the first part of the dissertation, these analyses will also consider the possibility of differential effects by socioeconomic status and adolescent cohort. Finally, the third part of the dissertation explores the potentially mediating role of negative affect and actual educational attainment. This line of research examines whether higher educational expectations have any negative effects on individuals given that we have increasingly seen adolescents view college as the next step after high school regardless of whether or not they have demonstrated the skills necessary to succeed in higher education. I find that the relationship between adolescent expectations and deviance becomes more complex as individuals move from adolescence to adulthood. During adolescence, holding high expectations of college education serves as a protective factor. Individuals with higher future orientations are significantly less likely to jeopardize their futures by engaging in deviant behavior. Conversely, failing to realize realistically high expectations of college education during the transition to adulthood dramatically increases an individual’s likelihood of deviance. Overall, positive expectations of the future, regardless of how unrealistic they may be, tend to have little to no negative effects; yet, for those individuals whose realistic high expectations go unmet there is a significant negative effect that goes beyond the effects of attainment (or lack thereof) alone.