ABSTRACT

Educational expectations have increased over time, with greater increases among young women than men, yet research focused on expectations for post-baccalaureate degrees is limited. We investigate young men’s and women’s plans to attend graduate or professional school using Monitoring the Future data from 12th graders for 1976 to 2019, focusing on how academic performance and work and family values may be associated with post-baccalaureate expectations. We find that young women’s expectations for graduate or professional school began to exceed young men’s in the early 1990s and continued to do so afterward, although expectations for post-baccalaureate schooling declined some in recent years, especially among young men. Results also indicate that the gender gap over time is driven partially by more young women than men with B or lower average grades holding post-baccalaureate expectations. Work values may foster these high expectations, especially for lower-achieving young women. Finally, we examine whether post-baccalaureate expectations translate into higher attainments, and results suggest that higher-achieving students are better positioned to meet their post-baccalaureate expectations. Collectively, our findings suggest that sociocultural factors promoting women’s participation in the public sphere may encourage some young women to form high-level expectations that they are not academically equipped to meet.

摘要

随着时间的推移，教育期望不断提高，年轻女性的增长幅度高于男性，但针对学士学位后的期望的研究却很有限。我们利用 1976 年至 2019 年 12 年级学生的“监测未来”数据，调查了年轻男女进入研究生或职业学校的计划，重点关注学业成绩、工作和家庭价值观与学士学位后期望的关系。我们发现，年轻女性对研究生或职业学校的期望在 20 世纪 90 年代初开始超过年轻男性，并且此后继续如此，尽管近年来对学士学位后教育的期望有所下降，特别是在年轻男性中。结果还表明，随着时间的推移，性别差距的部分原因是，持有学士学位后期望的平均成绩为 B 或较低的年轻女性多于男性。工作价值观可能会助长这些高期望，尤其是对于成绩较差的年轻女性。最后，我们研究了学士学位后的期望是否会转化为更高的成就，结果表明，成绩较高的学生更有能力满足他们的学士学位后期望。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，促进妇女参与公共领域的社会文化因素可能会鼓励一些年轻女性形成她们在学术上无法满足的高水平期望。我们研究了学士学位后的期望是否会转化为更高的成就，结果表明，成绩较高的学生更有能力满足他们的学士学位后期望。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，促进妇女参与公共领域的社会文化因素可能会鼓励一些年轻女性形成她们在学术上无法满足的高水平期望。我们研究了学士学位后的期望是否会转化为更高的成就，结果表明，成绩较高的学生更有能力满足他们的学士学位后期望。总的来说，我们的研究结果表明，促进妇女参与公共领域的社会文化因素可能会鼓励一些年轻女性形成她们在学术上无法满足的高水平期望。