Mexican American 7(th) Graders' Future Work and Family Plans: Associations with Cultural Experiences and Adjustment.

Abstract

We describe Mexican American 7(th) graders' expectations for future work and family roles and investigate links between patterns of future expectations and adolescents' cultural experiences and adjustment. Adolescents participated in home interviews and a series of seven nightly phone calls. Five unique patterns of adolescents' future expectations were identified (N = 246): Career Oriented, Independent, Family Oriented, Early, and Inconsistent. Career Oriented adolescents had the highest socioeconomic status and contact with the U.S. (e.g., generation status) whereas Family Oriented adolescents had the lowest. Cultural orientations, values, and involvement also varied across groups. For example, Career Oriented adolescents reported significantly higher familism values compared to Inconsistent adolescents. Clusters also differed on adjustment: Career Oriented and Family Oriented adolescents reported higher parental warmth and less risky behavior compared to Independent and Inconsistent adolescents. Findings underscore the multi-faceted nature of adolescents' future expectations and the diversity in cultural experiences among Mexican origin youth.