NCJ Number
216241
Journal
Journal of Adolescence Volume: 29 Issue: 5 Dated: October 2006 Pages: 795-811
Date Published
October 2006
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study examined the relation between adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ jobs and their future orientation and tested the role of parental support.
Abstract
Study results indicate that adolescents’ perceptions of their parents’ rewards, self-direction, and stress predict how positively or negatively they perceive the future. As hypothesized, perceptions of more favorable conditions, such as rewards and self-direction, relate to more positive outlooks. Parental support appears to buffer the association between perceptions and future orientation when parents experience unfavorable work conditions. The study demonstrates the role of parents’ support as a direct and moderating influence on adolescents’ orientation toward the future. Even though adolescents may rarely enter their parents’ workplaces, their perceptions of their parents’ jobs may relate to how they think about their futures. The goal of this study was to examine how adolescents’ perceptions of parents’ experiences of rewards, self-direction, and stress at work related to their optimism, pessimism, and hope about the future and how these relations might be related to parental support. The study hypothesized that adolescents who perceived their parents to experience more rewards, more opportunities for self-direction, and less stress on their jobs would be more optimistic and less pessimistic about their own educational and employment prospects. Additionally, it was hypothesized that the more positive adolescents’ perceptions, the greater their hope. The study consisted of 415 adolescents attending high school. Tables, figure, appendix, and references