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 |