Findings Persisting social inequalities Influence of social background is mediated via socialisation experiences in the family Career development take
{"Image DocumentName": "Findings Persisting social inequalities", "Image ImageDescription": "Teenage girls appear to have higher occupational aspirations then men, they are more motivated at school and achieve better exam results. Parents expect that their daughters will participate longer in further education then their sons, thus supporting their career endeavours. Nonetheless women are less likely than men to achieve to the same occupational level. One explanation for this gap in women\u2019s strivings and their achievements appears to be associated with the step into parenthood, which appears to occur earlier in the lives of women than men. The findings suggest that the general increase in female labour market participation has not let to a substantial redivision of household and family responsibilities, which are still largely the domain of women . As women have entered the workforce and taken on new roles, they have retained their position as the person responsible for childcare. For women the roles as mother and labour-force participant appear to be independent and in conflict, while for men their roles as father and worker are interdependent and easier to combine, suggesting that institutional arrangements have failed to accommodate the realities of women and couples in the workforce . The direct link between parental social class and timing of first birth is mediated via socialisation experiences in the family, in particular through the experience of economic hardship and the associated parental educational expectations for their child. Parents with only few economic resources are less likely to expect their child to continue in further education than parents in more privileged circumstances. The link between economic resources and parental expectations is less strong in the later born cohort, possibly due to generally raised expectations for further education among parents which might in turn be a response to changing nature of the labour market and increasing demands for a highly skilled workforce. Parental educational expectations had a significant influence in shaping their children\u2019s academic motivation, their job aspirations and exam performance, as well as the timing of parenthood. High levels of parental aspirations were positively associated with the child\u2019s aspirations and achievement, regardless of social class factors, This finding confirms the importance of parent-child relations in supporting occupational development of their children in addition and above the economic resources available to the family .Transition specific parent-child interactions can help young people to find a career direction and foster more adaptive outcomes. The associations between parental expectations and young people\u2019s agency are however stronger for cohort members born in 1958 than for those born 12 years later, possibly suggesting a weakening of the bond between parental expectations and own strivings, which in turn might be more strongly influenced by other factors not included in the model, such as support from teachers or peers. The influence of economic hardship, on the other hand, has increased as a predictor of teenager\u2019s school motivation and academic performance for the later born cohort. Economic hardship also has a slightly stronger effect on the timing of parenting transitions in the later born cohort. These findings might suggest that access to economic resources has become more important in shaping the transitions into adult roles for the later born cohort. The development and maintenance of motivation and aspirations is bound up with family circumstances, underlining the principle of linked lives, the embeddedness of individual choices with the lives of others (Elder, 1998). Being born into less privileged social backgrounds is a risk factor associated with lower levels of educational engagement and achievement, as well as occupational aspirations and attainment. School motivation in particular plays a central role in influencing occupational aspirations, academic attainment as well as timing of parenthood. The findings lend support to the expectation hypotheses (Bonell et al., 2005) suggesting that dislike of school fosters low expectations about future education and training opportunities, thus rendering early parenthood as a reasonable career alternative. There is also some support for this assumption regarding the link between job aspirations and timing of parenthood. The findings suggest that high job aspirations are related to a delay of first motherhood beyond the late 20s. Women with professional job aspirations are more likely than other women to delay childbirth into their thirties (or to remain childless). However, job aspirations do nothing to explain differences in timing of motherhood among women who were mothers already by age 28. Cohort members with high occupational aspirations who perform well in their examinations are more likely to delay the step into parenthood and pursue their occupational careers. The multiple paths determining adult occupational status, suggest that career development takes place within a life planning framework, where plans regarding education and employment are linked with other life roles such as becoming a parent. While job aspirations showed a stronger influence on adult occupational status among cohort members born in 1958, especially among men, exam performance has become a more important predictor for cohort members born in The findings underline the increasing importance of educational performance for occupational attainment in the later born cohort. Persisting social inequalities. Influence of social background is mediated via socialisation experiences in the family. Career development takes place within a life planning framework. Early transitions influence later outcomes. \u2192Time inequality as major social divide.", "Image XResolution": "37", "Image YResolution": "37", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "SlidePlayer", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered"}