Educational outcomes and aspirations of upper secondary school students: The cultural capital and relative risk aversion perspectives

Abstract

The aim of the article was to address the relevance of cultural capital and relative risk aversion theories for educational outcomes and aspirations of upper secondary school students in Croatia, and to examine whether these approaches are compatible in explaining educational inequalities. Linear and logistic regressions were used to analyze data from 2106 students in their last year of upper secondary school (16-18 years old). Both constructs, cultural capital and relative risk aversion, had positive effects on school performance, enrolment of gymnasium instead of vocational school and aspirations for higher education. The analyses indicated that cultural factors frequently associated with school performance should not be separated from more direct status concerns shaping educational decisions. Rather than seeing them as unrelated, these mechanisms may both be seen as constitutive of students? educational dispositions.