THE TRANSMISSION OF MOTHERS' EDUCATIONAL AMBITIONS, AS RELATED TO SPECIFIC SOCIALIZATION TECHNIQUES

The extent is examined to which particular soc'ization techniques are associated with successful transmission of mothers' educ'al ambitions for their children. Interviews were conducted with 524 10th grade HSch students & their mothers, residing in 8 NJ communities. The basic res instruments were 2 semi-structured interview schedules, one for the mothers & one for the students. Students' grades & IQ scores were obtained from Sch records. The following relationships were investigated: (1) cultural enrichment & mother-child consensus; (2) Sch contacts & mother-child consensus; & (3) maternal pressure & mother-child consensus. Results show that mothers' educ'al ambitious for their children were strongly & positively related to the students' own educ'al plans, regardless of the extent to which they provided the students with culturally enriching activities, pressured them to do well in Sch, or kept in touch with the Sch. This suggests that parental values are transmitted in many alternative ways, rather than by specific instrumental behavior at given points in time. It is also possible that the study did not measure accurately the behaviors whose association with students' plans it wished to ascertain. Future res, with better indicators, can establish whether past notions of the process involved in the transmission of parental educ'al ambitions need to be modified. 5 Tables. Modified HA.