Ethnicity, family achievement syndrome, and adolescents' aspirations: Rosen's framework revisited

Relationships between the achievement syndrome of families from different Australian ethnic groups, family social status, and adolescents' educational and occupational aspirations were examined. The investigation was generated from a particularly significant set of studies of family environments conducted by Rosen (e.g., 1956, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1973). Longitudinal data were collected from 16-year-olds (N = 465) and their parents from Anglo-Australian, Greek, and southern Italian groups in Australia. The findings suggest that (a) there are substantial ethnic group differences in the dimensions of the family achievement syndrome and more modest group variations in aspirations for adolescents from different Australian ethnic groups, (b) family social status and the dimensions of the family achievement syndrome have a restricted set of modest to moderate associations with adolescents' aspirations, and (c) ethnic group variations in adolescents' aspirations are mediated largely by differences in measures of the family achievement syndrome and family social status.