Expectations/Aspirations

Developed for the Pittsburgh Youth Study (Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, van Kammen & Farrington, 1991) which was adapted from instruments developed by the staffs of the Institute of Behavioral Science and of the Rochester Youth Development Study. Pittsburgh Youth Study, The Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 3811 O'Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15213.

Abstract: The Expectations/Aspirations measure is a 22-item scale which assesses children's feelings about their goals and activities in life. Specifically, the measure contains questions regarding children's views of how important specific goals are, how far they would like to go in school, how far they think they will go in school, and how likely it is that they will meet specific goals. Each item in the measure which addresses the importance of specific goals ranges from 1 (very important) to 4 (not important at all); each item in the measure which addresses the likelihood of meeting the specific goals ranges from 1 (very likely) to 4 (not likely at all). For two items about schooling the children were offered a range of eight choices from 1 (8th grade or less) to 8 (other). There are two responses for "What kind of job would you like to get when you grow up?": 1 indicated that the child mentioned a job and 2 indicated that the child responded, "I don't know." Scoring procedures were used to create three scales for this measure. The first scale, Current Importance, measures the importance an individual places on meeting specific goals. The second scale, Future Expectations I, measures the individual's beliefs in how likely he/she will be in achieving the same goals included in the Current Importance scale. The third scale, Future Expectations II, measure the individual's beliefs in how likely he/she will be in achieving these goals. The responses to "Do you think when you are a grown-up, you will be in trouble with the police?" were reversed to be consistent with the direction of the scale. Analysts should be aware that the scoring for "Do you think that when you are a grown-up, you will be in trouble with the police?" is in the opposite direction than the scoring for the other items. In addition, analysts should be aware that in the scoring for "What kind of job would you like to get when you grow up?", a 1 indicates that the child mentioned a job and a 2 indicates that the child responded, "I don't know." Also be aware that the subscale Current Importance Scale contains six items for current importance and subscale Future Expectations I Scale contains the corresponding six items for future expectations.

Who Completed this Measure?: Target Child/Youth (now in adulthood)

Cohort 1 - Administrative History

  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14

Cohort 2 - Administrative History

  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14

Cohort 3 - Administrative History

  • Year 08 | grade 7 | age 13
  • Year 09 | grade 8 | age 14

Raw Dataset Name: CyAG

Scored Dataset Name: EXAySCc

Keywords:
Educational Objectives, Goal Orientation, Values, Work Ethic

Is this Measure Available for Public Use?: Yes

Obtain Measure:
Download the measure here

SAS Code for Scale Creation:
Download the code here

Measure Items and Scales:

Scored Dataset Content

COHORT Cohort
SITE Study Site
TCID Study ID Number
C8AG1 Importance of Well-Paying Job Later?
C8AG2 Impt of Good Reputation in the Community
C8AG3 Importance to Work Hard to Get Ahead?
C8AG4 Importance to Save Money For the Future?
C8AG5 Impt of Being Careful of Amt Money Spent
C8AG6 Importance of Having a Happy Family Life
C8AG7 How Far Would You LIKE To Go in School?
C8AG8 How Far You THINK You Will Go in School?
C8AG9 Will Have Well-Paying Job as an Adult?
C8AG10 Will Have a Steady Job When an Adult?
C8AG11 Will Have a Good Rep in Comm as an Adult
C8AG12 Will Work Hard to Get Ahead as an Adult?
C8AG13 Will Save Money for Future as an Adult?
C8AG14 Careful of Amt of Money Spent as an Adul
C8AG15 Will Have Children as an Adult?
C8AG16 Will Be a Good Mother/Father as an Adult
C8AG17 Will Marry as an Adult?
C8AG18 Will Have a Happy Home Life as an Adult?
C8AG19 Will Be in Trouble W/ Police as an Adult
C8AG20 Will Stay in Touch W/ Parents as an Adul
C8AG21 Kind of Job Would LIKE to Get as an Adul
C8AG22 How Likely Are You to Get This Job?
TREATMNT Treatment Group (Interv/Cntl)
NORM Members of Normative Sample
C8AG19r Trouble with the Police - Reversed
EXA8CUR Current Importance
EXA8FUT1 Future Expectations I
EXA8FUT2 Future Expectations II