| dc.description.abstract | This study examined whom lower socioeconomic young peopIe
reported as the most influential people in their general
future plans and in future educational and occupational matterse
The sample consisted of 5,224 fifth and sixth graders
from seven Southern states. The data were collected as part
of two Regional Research Projects and included three cohort
I groups over a ten-year period of time (1969, 1975, and 1978)
with three subsamples--rural blacks, urban blacks, and rural
Appalachian whites.
The independent v~riables in this research were cohort,
sex, and race. The dependent variables were three aspects
of significant others' influence measured by asking the young
students (a) whose advice was important about future plans;
(b) who had talked to them about future schoqling; and (c) who
had talked to them about future job choices. Each question
had 10 categories of significant persons from which the students
could select. The data were analyzed by the chi square
measure of association at the .05 level of significance.
The first hypothesis of no difference across cohort
groups in reporting parents as significant others was rejected
for the three dependent variables. The significant difference
appeared to be the result of a decrease of the youth in
the 1975 cohort group who reported parents as significant
others, whereas the 1969 and 1978 cohorts remained stable.
Parents were the most often reported significant others in
the three cohorts, with mother being the person m9st often
G
reported and father the second person most often reported.
The second hypothesis of differences in males and
females reporting their parents as significant persons was
supported for the three dependent measures. When only one
parent was reported, the parent of the same sex as the child
was most often reported. Therefore, girls reported their
mothers more often than they did fathers, and boys reported
their fathers more often than their mothers.
The third hypothesis of no difference between the races
was rejected for the three dependent variables. Parents were
found to be the most influential significant others for both
black and white students~ however, depending on the type of
measurement, there were some variations in where the race
differences occurred. Generally, black students tended to
report their mother more frequently than white youngsters
did, whereas the white children tended to report their father
more frequently than black children did. other race differences
found were that black students reported a teacher more
frequently as a significant person in future life matters
than did white students, whereas white students discussed
their future plans with peers more frequently than did the
black young people.
Another finding is that the results of studying significant
others is dependent to some extent on the type of
measurement used. The research questions would determine
whether one wanted the dependent measure to prov~de information
regarding who is most influential or all who are
influential. The topic of discussion (future plan, schooling
or job) also affected who was reported.
It was recommended that further examination of this data
would be desirable to determine if any of the cohort differences
were related to sex and race variation and also to
utilize nonparametric statistical procedures. Adding a
longitudinal component was suggested to examine maturational
changes. Emphasis on parental education and further research
to determine if the emphasis is effective in helping disadvantaged
low-income youth was recommended. | en_US |
