Abstract
This study examines the levels of occupational aspirations and anticipations of a group of delinquent and nondelinquent boys in relation to their fathers' occupation. The two groups were controlled in respect to sex (only boys), age (only seventeen- year-olds), race (only whites and Negroes), and social class. The delinquent sample comprised sixty-one boys confined to a mid western training school. The control was made up of seventy boys from upper working-class and lower middle-class neighbor hoods in the Chicago area.
The study findings include the following: (1) Almost three of every four nondelinquents anticipate higher occupations than those of their fathers; (2) Negro delinquents hope to obtain occupations above the level of their fathers; and (3) Negro boys appear to be most motivated to rise above the occupational levels of their fathers. However, so far as relative goal discrepan cy is concerned, the lower-class Negro in the sample study reflects the lowest degree of confidence.
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