Socio-Economic Status as a Predictor of Educational Aspirations among Adolescents

The present study was conducted to examine socio-economic status as a predictor of educational aspirations among adolescents. The sample constituted of 240 students, 120 from Hisar city and 120 from Udaipur city in the age group of 13-16 years. Of these 240 adolescents, 120 were male and 120 were female. Self-prepared interview schedule was used to collect information on socio-economic variables. Educational aspirations were assessed with the help of Educational Aspiration Scale (form-p) by Sharma and Gupta (2015). Correlational and regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Majority of adolescents belonged to small sized families; about equal percentage of fathers had education up to high school, senior secondary school and graduation level. About one fifth of mothers were illiterate. About forty one per cent fathers were in service and majority of mothers were home makers. Correlational analysis revealed that there were significant and positive correlations between parental education, family income and educational aspirations of adolescents, while negative correlation existed between family size and educational aspirations. Linear regression revealed that maternal education and family income were positive predictors of educational aspirations, while family size negatively affected educational aspirations. As assumed, collectively, socio economic variables were strong predictors of educational aspirations of adolescents and accounted for 30.3 per cent variance in educational aspirations.