Life after 9th Grade: How Do Personal Achievements of Students and their Family Resources Influence Life Trajectories

Abstract

Dmitry Popov - Senior Research Fellow, Center of Education Quality Monitoring, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: dmitry_popov@sociolog.net

Yulia Tyumeneva - Senior Research Fellow, The International Laboratory for Education Policy Analysis at the HSE Graduate School of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: jutu@yandex.ru

Galina Larina - Research Associate, Center of Education Quality Monitoring, Institute of Education, National Research University Higher School of Economics. E-mail: larina.gala@gmail.com

In previous studies a significant influence of family resources on adolescents’ educational trajectories was repeatedly and convincingly demonstrated. How ever self-efficacy theory and related researches asserted that previous individual achievements and individual interpretation of these achievements noticeably affect career choices. In the article personal achievements, educational expectations and grit as a personal trait of high school students were considered as mediators between family educational resources and students’ educational career decisions. The research design consisted of two repeated measures of high school students: the first observation was done when respondents were 9th grade students (n = 2000), the second one was carried out two years later on the same sample (n = 1 1 56 due to sample attrition). After graduating from 9th grade survey participants were obliged to make a career choice, they could stay in a higher school for another two years, move to an elementary professional school (2-year education) or continue in a vocational secondary school (3-year education). Path analysis was conducted using Mplus Version 6 software. Results showed that family educational resources and students’ expectations are positively related with all three mediators. It was revealed that there is no direct effect of family educational resources on young men edu­cational choices. Family resources influence on adolescents’ career are fully mediated by students’ educational achievements and expectations. In other words self-efficacy and educational expectations can considerably change family resources effect. Grit as a personal trait did not show mediating effect. Further implications for research are also discussed.