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Journal of
Adolescence
Journal of Adolescence 29 (2006) 795811
www.elsevier.com/locate/jado

Adolescents thoughts about parents jobs and their

importance for adolescents future orientation
Nicole Gardner Nebletta,, Kai Schnabel Cortinab
a

National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
b
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Abstract
The current study examined the relation between adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs and their
future orientation, and tested the role of parental support. Four hundred and fteen ninth through twelfth
graders were surveyed about their parents job rewards, self-direction, and stressors, as well as their
expectations for employment and education prospects. Results indicate that perceptions of parents
rewards, self-direction, and stress predict how positively or negatively adolescents perceive the future to be.
Results also suggest that higher levels of parental support may weaken the association between perceptions
and future orientation when adolescents perceive their parents experience unfavorable conditions at work.
These results suggest that adolescents perceptions of parents jobs have implications for their preparation
for adulthood.
r 2005 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.
Keywords: Future orientation; Adolescents perceptions; Parental job conditions; Parental support

Introduction
Even though adolescents may rarely enter their parents workplaces, their perceptions of their
parents jobs may relate to how they think about their futures. Kohn (1969) demonstrated that
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 734 615 4925.

E-mail address: nicolepg@umich.edu (N. Gardner Neblett).

0140-1971/$30.00 r 2005 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All
rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.adolescence.2005.11.006

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parents jobs relate to their parenting values, which reect their goals in raising their children.
Parents whose jobs require them to be self-directed tend to value child behaviour that appears to
be controlled by internal rather than external standards. Conversely, parents who are closely
supervised at work and who have few, if any, opportunities for self-direction tend to value
conformity and obedience in their children. Recent studies have found that parents job
conditions also relate to parenting behaviours (Greenberger, ONeil, & Nagel, 1994), parents
interactions with their children (Crouter, Bumpus, Maguire, & McHale, 1999), and their
childrens cognitive and social development (Parcel & Menaghan, 1994). There have been few
studies, however, that have examined adolescents perceptions of parents jobs in relation to their
orientations to the future.
Adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs may have implications for adolescents
preparation for adulthood. The more positive adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs
are, the better their academic competence (Moorehouse & Sanders, 1992), the better their
socioemotional functioning (Barling, Zacharatos, & Hepburn, 1999), and the stronger their work
ethic (Barling, Dupre, & Hepburn, 1998). Adolescents perceptions may also inuence their future
orientation. The more positive adolescents perceive their parents jobs to be, the more optimistic
they may be. Conversely, negative perceptions may relate to greater pessimism. The link between
negative perceptions of parents jobs and future orientation, however, may be buffered by
parental support, a factor that has been linked to greater optimism among adolescents
(Csikzentmihalyi & Schneider, 2000; Nurmi, 1987).
Parental support has been found to be an important factor in making the difference in how
adolescents view their futures and the expectations they develop (Kenny, Blustein, Chaves,
Grossman, & Gallagher, 2003; McCabe & Barnett, 2000; Wall, Covell, & MacIntyre, 1999). The
more support adolescents report receiving from their parents, the more optimistic they are about
their futures. Few studies, however, have examined how parental support may moderate
adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs in relation to future orientation. Research by
OConnor (1997) suggests that when adolescents parents have unfavorable experiences with
work, such as job loss, erratic employment, and low wages, parents, or other signicant adults,
make a difference in adolescents perceptions of their personal life chances. Adolescents
whose parents support and encourage their endeavors express an optimism about their futures
that is less evident among adolescents whose parents are less apt to encourage or support their
endeavors. It is this support that can buffer potentially unfavorable links between adolescents
perceptions of parents jobs and their future orientation, enabling adolescents to remain
optimistic about the future as they garner encouragement from parents to achieve their goals.
The current study examines the relation between adolescents perceptions of their parents
jobs and their future orientation, and tests parental support as a moderator of this hypothesized
relation.
Future orientation
Future orientation is a cognitive-motivational phenomenon that reects individuals anticipation of events (Trommsdorff, Burger, & Fuchsle, 1982). As individuals anticipate the future, they
plan activities to realize their goals and evaluate the possibilities of achieving them. Affective
components, which can be positive or negative, reect the extent to which they believe they can

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inuence their futures and may motivate life-planning, decision-making, and behaviour (Nurmi,
1991; Trommsdorff, 1983).
Having a positive or optimistic orientation toward the future may help adolescents make
decisions as they prepare for adulthood (Lanz, Rosnati, Marta, & Scabini, 2001; Nurmi, 1991;
Trommsdorff, 1983). Compared to an adolescent who is negatively oriented to the future, an
adolescent with a positive future orientation may be more likely to set, plan for, and achieve goals,
while persisting in the face of obstacles. An optimistic orientation to the future may also motivate
behaviours that enable adolescents to achieve their goals by solving problems, tolerating
frustrations, or maintaining exibility (Csikzentmihalyi & Schneider, 2000; Trommsdorff, 1983).
Research has conrmed that positive affects regarding the future, such as optimism and hope, are
linked to perseverance, effective problem-solving, and academic and occupational success, while
negative affects, such as pessimism, are linked to depression, passivity, and failure (Chang &
Sanna, 2003; Peterson, 2000).
Through the support they give adolescents, parents inuence adolescents affective orientation
to the future. Trommsdorff, Burger, and Fuchsle (1978, as cited in Trommsdorff, 1982)
discovered that adolescents who received low levels of parental support were less hopeful and
optimistic than those receiving high levels of support. Similarly, McCabe and Barnett (2000)
found receiving encouragement from parents to think and plan for the future was predictive of
frequent and detailed thoughts of the future, which in turn, predicted higher levels of optimism.
By giving support, parents provide feedback to adolescents that may encourage them to acquire
the skills to set goals, plan, and evaluate their progress, fostering hope and optimism (Nurmi,
1991).
Adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs
Adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs represent their interpretations of the
experiences their parents have with work. These perceptions may include parents autonomy
and duties, as well as employers demands on them and their contact with physical hazards.
Adolescents develop perceptions through exposure to their parents experiences, which can occur
by listening to their parents talk about their jobs, observing their parents affect after a day at
work, or by visiting their parents workplaces (Piotrkowski & Stark, 1987). Studies nd that
adolescents perceptions correspond with parents reports about their jobs, indicating that
adolescents are accurate in their perceptions of their parents experiences (Barling et al., 1998;
Galambos & Sears, 1998). Unlike children, adolescents more sophisticated cognitive
competencies and processing abilities give their perceptions the potential to inuence their future
orientation.
Previous studies indicate that the perceptions adolescents develop of their parents experiences
with work relate to their attitudes and values toward work, even after controlling for
socioeconomic factors. Barling et al. (1998) found that the more that adolescents perceived
their parents jobs to be threatened with layoffs, the less likely they were to endorse the Protestant
work ethic or to believe that individuals can be fullled through their work, which also related
to lower motivation to work and greater alienation from work (Barling et al., 1998). Galambos
and Sears (1998) demonstrated that the more adolescents perceived their parents to experience
mistreatment at work, few nancial rewards from work, heavy workloads, and high levels

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of dirt, noise, and danger, the less likely they were to value work for nancial rewards and
security. The perceptions that adolescents have of their parents jobs may also relate to how
positively or negatively adolescents perceive their futures. Paulter and Lewko (1987) found that
compared to adolescents whose fathers were employed, adolescents whose fathers were
unemployed were less optimistic about obtaining a job and being successful in the future,
suggesting that negative perceptions of parents jobs may contribute to adolescents pessimistic
orientations.
Eccles expectancy-value model (Eccles, 1983; Wigeld & Eccles, 2000) provides a framework
for understanding the implications that adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs might have
for their future orientation. This model holds that perceptions of reality can be more inuential
for determining expectancies, values, and behaviour than reality. Perceptions arise from the beliefs
and experiences of socializers and contribute to the attributions individuals make for success and
failure. Together, attributions and perceptions can inuence the expectancies and values that
individuals place on achievement-related tasks, which in turn inuence their behaviours and
choices (Wigeld & Eccles, 2000). The beliefs and values that parents develop from their work
experiences often contribute to their interactions with their children (Kohn, 1969). Through these
interactions, adolescents are likely to develop perceptions of their parents jobs and corresponding
attributions, which may inuence their interpretations of adult life, the values they adopt, and the
goals they set for themselves.
The current study
The goal of the current study is to examine how adolescents perceptions of parents experiences
of rewards, self-direction, and stress at work relate to their optimism, pessimism, and hope
about the future, and how these relations may be related to parental support. When parents
have positive experiences with work, adolescents enjoy better socioemotional and academic
adjustment, are motivated to work, and are more condent about their futures (Galambos &
Silbereisen, 1987; Paulter & Lewko, 1987). It was expected that adolescents who perceive
their parents to experience more rewards, more opportunities for self-direction, and less stress
on their jobs would be more optimistic and less pessimistic about their own educational
and employment prospects, even after controlling for adolescents socioeconomic backgrounds.
A second hypothesis extends the rst by examining adolescents perceptions in relation to
their general sense of hope in the future, independent of prospects of employment or education;
the more positive adolescents perceptions, the greater their hope. We explore whether
these hypothesized relations would be stronger between adolescents and parents of the same
gender as research indicates that adolescents may be more strongly inuenced by the parent
of the same gender (Ryu & Mortimer, 1996). Given that parental support is a factor that
appears to facilitate adolescents future orientation (Kenny et al., 2003; McCabe & Barnett,
2000; Wall et al., 1999), we explore whether receiving higher levels of support from parents
diminishes the effects of unfavorable parental work experiences on adolescents future
orientation. As support may enhance optimism about the future among adolescents living in
disadvantaged circumstances (OConnor, 1997), it would be of practical relevance if receiving
support from parents buffered the impact of parental work experiences on adolescents future
orientations.

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Method
Participants
Participants were 415 adolescents (243 females, 172 males) attending grades nine through
twelve at two public high schools in the Midwest. Adolescents ranged in age from 13 to 19 years
old (M 15.5 years) and were evenly distributed across grades nine through twelve. Of the
participants, 57% were African American (N 236) and 34% were European American
(N 140), with the remaining 9% identifying as Latino, Native American, Asian American, or
bi-racial or multi-racial (N 38).
When answering questions about their parents, the majority of adolescents reported on their
biological parents (mothers: 89%; fathers: 78%). Other adolescents reported on relatives who
were like mothers or fathers to them, such as grandparents, aunts or uncles (mother-gures: 9%;
father-gures: 19%), while a few adolescents reported on unrelated adults who were like parents
to them, such as family friends (mother-gures: 1%; father-gures: 3%). Of the adolescents who
reported on parent-gures, 64% lived with their mother-gures and 43% lived with their fathergures. The terms mothers, fathers, and parents refer to biological parents and parent-gures
and analyses control for parental status.
The majority of parents had at least a high school degree (mothers: 93%; fathers: 89%)
and were married (mothers: 56%; fathers: 62%). Most mothers (79%) and fathers (83%)
were employed at the time of data collection; however, some were retired, students, homemakers, disabled (mothers: 15%; fathers: 14%), or unemployed (mothers: 5%; fathers: 4%).
Occupations of employed parents ranged from unskilled laborers to professionals, with 18% of
mothers and 14% of fathers working in managerial or professional positions.1 The remaining
parents worked in non-managerial or non-professional occupations (mothers: 82%; fathers:
86%). Mothers were most commonly secretaries (12%), teachers (7%), factory workers (6%), and
janitors (6%), while fathers were commonly construction (16%) or factory workers (13%), and
mechanics (9%).
Procedure
Researchers visited adolescents in their classrooms to inform them about the study
and to distribute consent forms for parental approval for adolescents participation.
Only adolescents who returned consent forms with parental approval and who assented
to participate were involved in the study. Adolescents completed surveys, which required 2
5 to 45 minutes to complete, and were given free pizza and refreshments as a gesture of
appreciation.

1
Responses to open-ended questions about parents job title, duties and tasks, and business or industry were used to
code parents jobs into two categories: (1) managerial or professional and (2) non-managerial or non-professional.
Managerial or professional jobs are those jobs that the U.S. Census Bureau classies as including managers or
professionals, whereas non-managerial or non-professional jobs include those involving service, sales, farming,
construction, and production occupations (see Fronczek & Johnson, 2003).

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Measures
Unless otherwise noted, the measures used in this study were developed specically for this
study to investigate the links between perceptions of parents work conditions, parental career
support, and future orientation (see Appendix A for complete list of items for each measure).
Perceptions of parents work conditions. These measures were designed to assess adolescents
perceptions of the rewards, self-direction, and stress that their mothers and fathers experienced.
1. Rewards. The measure of job-related rewards includes statements on intrinsic (e.g. sense of
accomplishment) and extrinsic rewards (e.g. nancial rewards) on a scale from 1 Not at all
true to 6 Very true (eight items; Cronbachs alpha: mothers .87; fathers .87).
2. Occupational self-direction. The self-direction adolescents perceive parents to experience at
work was measured on a scale from 1 Not at all true to 6 Very true (ve items; Cronbachs
alpha: mothers .67; fathers .67).
3. Stress. A single item measured adolescents perceptions of parents experiences with stress at
work from 1 Not at all stressful to 5 Very stressful (i.e. Overall, how stressful do you think
your mothers current job is?).
Parental career support. This scale was designed to measure adolescents perceptions of their
mothers and fathers instrumental and emotional support for their career goals from a scale of 1
Not at all true to 6 Very true (ve items; Cronbachs alpha: mothers: .85; fathers: .82).
Parental influence on future orientation. To assess adolescents perceptions of how their parents
experiences with work inuence their outlook on employment and education in the future, items
were designed for this study to reect adolescents orientation to work or attend school.
Adolescents reported how true each statement was for their mothers and fathers on a scale from 1
Not at all true to 6 Very true.
1. Optimism. The rst scale measures adolescents optimism about future employment and
education based on their parents work experiences (ve items; Cronbachs alpha:
mothers .78; fathers .79).
2. Pessimism. The second scale measures adolescents pessimism about the prospects of future
employment and education in relation to their parents work experiences (four items;
Cronbachs alpha: mothers .72; fathers .70).
Hope. To measure adolescents sense of hope in the future, items from the Hopelessness Scale
(Beck, Weissman, Lester, & Trexler, 1974) were adapted for this study. This scale has been used in
previous studies with racially and ethnically diverse samples and found to be reliable (Chang &
Sanna, 2003; Langhinrichsen-Rohling et al., 1998; Rohde, Noell, & Ochs, 1999). The subscale of
positive expectancies was used to measure adolescents sense of hope on a scale from 1 Not at all
true to 6 Very true (nine items; Cronbachs alpha .83). Sample items are: I look forward to
the future with hope and enthusiasm and In the future, I expect to succeed in what concerns me
the most.
Background variables. Additional information was obtained regarding racial/ethnic background, gender, average grades earned in school, parental education, and parental marital status.

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Results
Descriptive analyses
To examine whether adolescents perceptions reect the type of jobs parents hold, perceptions
of adolescents whose parents held managerial or professional jobs were compared to the
perceptions of adolescents whose parents held non-managerial or non-professional jobs. Students
gender was included in the analysis to check for possible interaction effects. Two multivariate
analyses of variance (MANOVA, separate for information about the mothers and fathers job)
were performed with the three variables of perceived parental work conditions and parental
support as dependent variables; gender and job type served as independent variables. To control
for alpha ination, we preceeded to interpret the univariate tests only if the omnibus MANOVA
test was signicant. In both analyses, the interaction gender
job type was insignicant (mothers:
F :44, df 4=304, p :780; fathers: F :51, df 4=286, p :724). The main effect for gender
was also not signicant in both analyses (mothers: F 1:10, df 4=304, p :359; fathers:
F :71, df 4=286, p :583). Type of job, however, was signicant for mothers (F 6:26,
df 4=304, p :000) and fathers (F 3:23, df 4=286, p :013). Post hoc t-tests revealed that
adolescents perceptions reect typical qualities of jobs, where managerial or professional jobs are
often characterized by greater rewards and self-direction, along with greater stress (see Table 1).
Further comparisons of the responses of males and females were conducted to assess the role of
gender in relation to future orientation and parental support (see Table 2). Females were more
likely than males to report higher levels of optimism and lower levels of pessimism regarding their
educational and occupational futures when they think of their mothers and fathers experiences
with work. Unlike males, females report receiving greater levels of support for their future careers
from their mothers.
African-American adolescents, in comparison to adolescents of other races or ethnicities,
reported that their parents experienced less stress at work (mothers: t 2.52, df 324, p .012;
fathers: t 3.08, df 319, p .002), were more optimistic about the future when thinking of
their parents job experiences (mothers: t 3.51, df 400, p .000; fathers: t 2.62,
df 389, p .009), and were more hopeful about the future in general (t 5.01, df 411,
Table 1
Comparisons of adolescents perceptions by parents job type
Perceptionsa

Managerial/Professional
M (S.D.)

Non-managerial/Non-professional
M (S.D.)

t (df)

Rewards_M
Rewards_P
Self-direction_M
Self-direction_P
Stress_M
Stress_P

4.80
4.83
4.61
4.82
3.44
3.12

4.25
4.42
4.36
4.36
2.94
2.88

3.84
2.44
1.84
2.87
3.07
1.29

(310)***
(293)*
(311)+
(295)**
(312)**
(295)

po.10; *po.05; **po.01; ***po.001.

a
Variables ending in M indicate reference to maternal experiences and variables ending in P reference paternal
experiences.

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Table 2
Gender differences in means of adolescents perceptions of parents jobs, future orientation, and parental support
Variablea

Females
M (S.D.)

Males
M (S.D.)

t (df)

Optimism_M
Optimism_P
Pessimism_M
Pessimism_P
Hope
Support_M
Support_P

5.06
5.06
1.82
1.83
4.70
4.98
4.19

4.80
4.80
1.98
2.01
4.61
4.58
4.17

3.04 (401)**
2.80 (389)**
1.8 (401)+
1.97 (389)*
1.00 (412)
3.86 (412)***
0.10 (398)

(.78)
(.85)
(.96)
(.95)
(.81)
(1.02)
(1.50)

(.91)
(.98)
(.84)
(.82)
(.83)
(1.10)
(1.42)

po.10; *po.05; **po.01; ***po.001.

a
Variables ending in M indicate reference to maternal experiences and variables ending in P reference paternal
experiences.

p .000). African-American adolescents also reported receiving greater maternal support for
their career or job goals than other adolescents (t 2.14, df 411, p .033).
Correlations between perceptions of parents jobs, future orientation and parental support
Adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs correlated signicantly to their future orientation
(Table 3). The more adolescents perceived their parents jobs as rewarding, the more optimism
and hope and the less pessimism they felt. Similarly, greater perceptions of parents self-direction
predicted greater optimism and hope and less pessimism. The more adolescents perceived
mothers, but not fathers, experience job stress, the less optimistic or hopeful they were.
Receiving support from parents also positively correlated with adolescents future orientation.
The more support adolescents received, the more optimistic and hopeful they were, and the less
pessimistic they were. Parental support was also correlated with adolescents perceptions of their
parents job experiences. The more support they received from their mothers or fathers, the
greater their perceptions of their parents job rewards. Similarly, greater maternal support
correlated positively with greater perceptions of mothers self-direction at work, and the same was
true of paternal support. Parents job stress was not associated with parental support.
To test whether the correlations varied by adolescents gender, a two-group structural equation
model analysis was performed using LISREL 8.53 (Joreskog & Sorbom, 1996). The restrictive
model, which assumed that all 78 correlation coefcients are equal in the population, was not
rejected (w2df78 31:7, p :98). No empirical evidence was found that the underlying structure
is different for male and female adolescents.
Predicting adolescents future orientation from perceptions of parents jobs
In addition to the correlations of perceptions of parents job rewards and self-direction with
adolescents future orientation, there were also positive correlations between perceptions of job
rewards and perceptions of self-direction rmaternal :37; rpaternal :43. To test whether both
variables contribute independently to the prediction of adolescents optimism, pessimism and

1.0
.12+
.43***
.07
.13*
.37***
.49***
.16**
.29***
.31***
.14*
.40***

2.

1.0
.31***
.18**
.03
.24***
.15**
.40***
.37***
.15**
.16**
.07

3.

1.0
.10
.16**
.15**
.23***
.26***
.23***
.19***
.06
.17**

4.

1.0
.32***
.14**
.08
.07
.07
.12*
.09+
.10+

5.

7.

8.

1.0
.01
1.0
.06
.77*** 1.0
.05 .35*** .32***
.09 .32*** -.40***
.11+ .53*** .54***
.00
.43*** .33***
.06
.26*** .36***

6.

1.0
.71***
.39***
.26***
.17***

9.

11.

12.

(.99)
(1.01)
(.93)
(.98)
(1.12)
(1.13)
(.85)
(.92)
(.92)
(.90)
(.82)
(1.07)
(1.47)

13. Means (SD)

4.33
4.47
4.40
4.42
3.01
2.90
4.96
4.95
1.89
1.0
1.90
.35*** 1.0
4.66
.23*** .43*** 1.0
4.81
.27*** .24*** .33*** 1.0 4.18

10.

po.10; *po.05; **po.01; ***po.001.

a
Variables ending in M indicate reference to maternal experiences and variables ending in P reference paternal experiences.

1.0
.33***
.37***
.11+
.15*
.02
.47***
.37***
.26***
.24***
.38***
.47***
.22***

1. Rewards_M
2. Rewards_P
3. Self-direction_M
4. Self-direction_P
5. Stress_M
6. Stress_P
7. Optimism_M
8. Optimism_P
9. Pessimism_M
10. Pessimism_P
11. Hope
12. Support_M
13. Support_P

1.

Variablesa

Table 3
Correlation matrix of key variables with means and standard deviations

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hope, multiple linear regression analyses were performed. As further predictors, we included
adolescents academic performance (i.e. average grades), gender, parental education and marital
status, and parental status (i.e. biological parent or not). Initial analyses were conducted with and
without adolescents race as a covariate. As no signicant differences were found between these
analyses, nal analyses excluded race as a covariate as some scholars have cautioned against using
race as a nuisance variable (Steinberg & Fletcher, 1998).
Optimism
Findings indicated that adolescents perceptions of their parents jobs predicted optimism
(mothers: F 12.55, df 8/307, p .000, R2 .25; fathers: F 12.46, df 8/296, p .000,
R2 .25). The more adolescents perceived their mothers and fathers jobs as rewarding, the
greater their optimism (see Table 4). Perceptions of parents self-direction or stress did not predict
optimism after controlling for perceptions of job rewards. When job perceptions were removed
from the equation, the R2 decreased signicantly from .25 to .02 for mothers and from .25 to .02
for fathers, indicating that job perceptions accounted for 23% of the variance in optimism.
Pessimism
Adolescents perceptions predict the extent to which their parents experiences with work
engendered pessimism (mothers: F 12.19, df 8/306, p .000, R2 .24; fathers: F 7.38,
df 8/296, po.001, R2 .17). The more adolescents perceived their parents jobs as rewarding,
the less pessimistic they were (see Table 4). Greater perceptions of mothers, but not fathers, selfdirection additionally predicted less pessimism. Perceptions of parents stress did not predict
pessimism. Once the perceptions were removed from the equation, the R2 decreased signicantly
from .24 to .11 for mothers and from .17 to .07 for fathers, indicating that perceptions accounted
for 13% and 10% of the variance in pessimism. Unlike optimism, pessimism was signicantly

Table 4
Standardized regression coefcients predicting dependent variables based on parents work experiences
Optimism

Pessimism

Hope

Variable

Mother

Father

Mother

Father

Mother

Father

Rewards
Self-direction
Stress
Average grade
Gender
Parental focus person
Parental education
Parental marital status
Support
F
R2

.29 ***
.09
.07
.06
.02
.04
.03
.07
.32***
15.4***
32.2%

.39 ***
.03
.00
.01
.13*
.01
.07
.01
.23***
13.6***
29.3%

.07*
.32***
.01
.22***
.01
.03
.11
.09
.12*
10.61***
24.6%

.19**
.09
.06
.24***
.07
.01
.09
.03
.18**
7.7***
19.1%

.24***
.01
.06
.12*
.10
.08
.06
.09
.31***
11.1***
25.4%

.27***
.09
.05
.19**
.04
.06
.18**
.11
.16**
7.8***
19.1%

*po.05; **po.01; ***po.001.

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805

affected by school achievement, such that adolescents who earned higher grades, were less
pessimistic about their professional futures.
Hope
As hypothesized, the perceptions adolescents had of their mothers and fathers jobs predicted
their general sense of hope (mothers: F 7.40, df 8/307, p .000, R2 .16; fathers:
F 7.12, p 8/298, p .000, R2 .17). Only greater perceptions of mothers and fathers
rewards predicted greater hope (see Table 4). Once the perceptions were removed from the
equation, the portion of variance explained decreased 15% for mothers and 14% for fathers,
indicating that perceptions accounted for signicant portions of the variance in hope. Similar to
the nding for pessimism, grades also affected how hopeful the students were even after
controlling for perceptions of parents job experiences.
Exploring the buffering role of parental support
Based on the multiple regression models used in the previous analyses, we explored the
potential moderating effect of parental support for the relation between adolescents perceptions
of parents jobs and their future orientation. If support moderates this relation, then the
interaction terms of support and the perceived job characteristics should become signicant.
Because support by father and mother were investigated separately, six interaction terms were
created (three job characteristics combined with two support variables). The six regression
analyses presented in Table 4 were repeated including the interaction terms. The F-test of increase
in R2 was signicant in all but one case (optimism using mothers perceived job characteristics).
Inspection of the signicance tests of the interaction terms revealed a predictable pattern: paternal
support moderated effects of fathers job chararcteristics when the dependent variable referred to
optimism or pessimism based on fathers experience. For mothers, the patterns were similar. For
5

4.8

Hope

4.6

4.4
LOW SUPPORT
HIGH SUPPORT
4.2

3.8

3.6
LOW OSD

HIGH OSD
Occupational self-direction

Fig. 1. Plot of interaction between perceptions of maternal occupational self-direction and maternal support in
predicting hope.

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hope, a more rigorous analysis was performed as this dependent variable made no reference to
either parents work experience. Therefore, we included mothers and fathers job characteristics
simultaneously in the multiple regression, resulting in a model with 13 predictor variables that
explained 32.6% of the variance in hope. Adding the six interaction terms increased the explained
variance signicantly to 36.8% (F 2.62, df 6/238, p .018) due to the negative interaction of
mothers job self-direction and support.
Fig. 1 illustrates this interaction (subgroups dened as 1 S.D. above and below the mean for
both variables). The ordinate interaction corroborates the notion that maternal support buffers
the relation between perceptions of parents work experiences and adolescents outlook.
Adolescents who perceived their mothers to have fewer experiences of self-direction, but who
perceived high support were as hopeful as those who perceived greater maternal self-direction.
Those who perceived low maternal self-direction and who also received low maternal support had
the lowest levels of hope compared to other adolescents.

Discussion
The goal of this study was to examine how adolescents perceptions of parents work
experiences relate to their future orientation. Results indicate that adolescents perceptions of
their parents rewards, self-direction, and stress predict how positively or negatively they perceive
the future. As hypothesized, perceptions of more favorable conditions, such as rewards and selfdirection, relate to more positive outlooks. This relation is consistent whether examining
optimism and pessimism regarding future educational or occupational opportunities or
generalized hope. Parental support appears to buffer the association between perceptions and
future orientation when parents experience unfavorable work conditions.
Perceptions of parents job stress appear to play a less important role in how adolescents think
about their futures compared to rewards or self-direction. Stress may represent a phenomenon
that many parents experience at work, resulting from a variety of conditions. Parents rewards
and self-direction, however, may indicate satisfaction and autonomy, which adolescents may use
to think about the future. Abramovitch and Johnson (1992) suggest that when children perceive
parents satisfaction with work, they are more satised with their own schoolwork. Similarly,
parents experiences of self-direction have been linked with adolescents experiences of selfdirection at school (Kohn, Slomczynski, & Schoenbach, 1986). These ndings suggest that
parents self-direction and rewards may be transmitted to adolescents and may have stronger
implications for how adolescents view their futures than perceptions of stress.
This study demonstrates the role of parents support as a direct and moderating inuence on
adolescents orientation toward the future. The nding that greater parental support relates to
more positive future orientations is consistent with evidence of greater optimism among
adolescents with more supportive parents (Csikzentmihalyi & Schneider, 2000; Nurmi, 1987;
Trommsdorff, 1983). While past studies verify the importance of parental support for optimal
development of future orientation, there remain few studies that examined how parental support
might buffer the link between perceptions of parents jobs and future orientation. Results from
this study indicate that parental support appears to buffer the link between perceptions of parents
unfavorable job conditions and adolescents outlook. For adolescents who perceive low parental

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807

job rewards and self-direction, parents support relates to maintaining optimistic outlooks. Given
the dearth of research on this topic, these ndings represent preliminary and exploratory steps in
elucidating the buffering role of parental support. While this buffering is understandable given
that parents responsiveness to adolescents encourages the development of competencies that
foster optimism and successful development (Steinberg, Brown, & Dornbusch, 1996), additional
studies are needed to conrm that parental support does indeed buffer the link between
perceptions of parents unfavorable job conditions and future orientation.
Another contribution of this study is in highlighting the role of gender in adolescents
perceptions and their future outlook. While previous research demonstrates that adolescents are
more likely to acquire work values from parents of the same gender (Ryu & Mortimer, 1996),
there was little evidence that males and females perceive their parents jobs differently or that their
perceptions relate differently to their future orientation depending on whether they think about
the jobs held by the same or opposite gender parent. There is evidence that females tend to view
their futures, in relation to their parents overall job experiences, more positively than do males.
This nding corresponds with previous research that nds that compared to males, female
adolescents are more optimistic about their educational and occupational futures (Mau & Bikos,
2000; Wall et al., 1999). This difference in future orientation may be due to females outperforming
males in school achievement, which may engender greater optimism regarding educational and
occupational pursuits (Rojewski & Hill, 1998; Watson, Quatman, & Edler, 2002).
The experiences that adolescents perceive their parents to have on their jobs appear to have
implications for their future outlook, even after considering social class factors such as parental
education. There remains, however, a need to examine the processes that underlie these links and
the factors that moderate them. One factor that might moderate the relation between adolescents
perceptions and future orientation is race. As race is often a factor that correlates with differences
in parents work experiences, adolescents from different racial backgrounds may differ in their
perspectives of their parents experiences with work. The few differences by race found in the
current study may have resulted from the focus on perceptions of generic job conditions, rather
than perceptions of racial discrimination or preferential treatment at work. Minority adolescents
who perceive that their parents experience racial discrimination at work may be jaded and less
optimistic about their own chances for success in the workplace (Ogbu, 1989). We did nd,
however, that African-American adolescents reported higher levels of optimism and hope in the
future, as well as perceptions of lower stress and greater maternal support in comparison to other
adolescents. These results are similar to prior research, which nds that African-American
adolescents are more likely to have higher aspirations for their futures than European-American
adolescents (Wilson & Wilson, 1992). These ndings, however, may stem from characteristics
of the sample, which may not be representative of the general population of American
youth. Examination of how adolescents, at both the national and local level, from various
racial backgrounds differ in their perceptions of parents experiences of discriminatory
treatment at work may help in identifying if racial differences may contribute to their future
orientation.
Parenting styles and behaviours may also moderate the link between adolescents perceptions of
parents jobs and their future orientation. Research indicates that parenting styles and behaviours
predict adolescents competence and problem behaviours (Barber, 1996; Baumrind, 1991). There
is little indication, however, if parenting styles and behaviours inuence how adolescents might

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perceive parents jobs, and if these parenting styles and behaviours may also inuence adolescents
future orientation.
Greater understanding of the processes and moderators that contribute to the link between
adolescents perceptions and their future outlook can facilitate the design and implementation of
interventions. These interventions are necessary to ensure that adolescents develop the positive
outlooks on the future that foster planning and preparation for adulthood, in spite of parents
experiences with work. Studies that examine the role played by perceptions other than parents
rewards, self-direction, or stress, may also contribute to our understanding. Using qualitative
methods may allow for exploration of additional perceptions of parents work experiences, as well
as the processes that underlie and the moderators that buffer the link between perceptions and
future orientation.

Acknowledgement
This research was supported by a grant from the Rackham School of Graduate Studies at The
University of Michigan. Portions of this paper were completed for the rst authors doctoral
dissertation. We would like to thank the adolescents and schools who participated in this project
for their time and cooperation. We acknowledge the helpful comments of Vonnie C. McLoyd on
earlier versions of this paper and are grateful for the assistance of Laura Jaeger and Michael
Eatman with data collection and management.

Appendix A. Measures
Perceptions of parents work conditions (1 Not at all true to 6 Very true)
Rewards
1. My mothers (fathers) job gives her (him) a good feeling about herself (himself).
2. My mothers (fathers) job makes her (him) feel like shes (hes) accomplishing something
important.
3. My mother (father) has a job that gives her (him) interesting and challenging things to do.
4. My mothers (fathers) job gives her (him) a feeling of being respected by others.
5. My mothers (fathers) job gives her (him) a feeling of security about the future.
6. My mothers (fathers) job provides her (him) with an income that satises her (him).
7. My mothers (fathers) job gives her the ability to be a good provider for herself (himself) and
the family.
8. My mother (father) has friendships with other people at work.
Occupational self-direction (reverse coded)
1. My mother (father) is unable to inuence her (his) supervisors decisions and actions that affect
her (him) at work.

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2. On her (his) job, my mother (father) has to follow someone elses orders.
3. My mother (father) is unable to disagree with her (his) supervisor at work because there could
be negative consequences.
4. My mother (father) does not have the chance to develop her (his) own special skills, abilities,
and interests at work.
5. My mother (father) feels trapped in a job she (he) does not like.
Parental career support (1 Not at all true to 6 Very true)
1. My mother (father) encourages me to follow my career or job goals.
2. I discuss my goals for careers and jobs for my future with my mother (father).
3. Even if my mother (father) were to disagree with my choices for a career or job in the future,
I know she (he) would support me.
4. My mother (father) gives me advice about setting career or job goals.
5. My mother (father) helps me nd out about different careers and jobs for my future.
Parental influence on future orientation (1 Not at all true to 6 Very true)
Optimism
When I think about my mothers (fathers) experiences with worky
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

I
I
I
I
I

think going to school will pay off later.

know that studying for school will pay off when I am an adult.
want to study harder in school.
feel good about the opportunities to work that Ill have as an adult.
look forward to working as an adult.

Pessimism
When I think about my mothers (fathers) experiences with worky
1.
2.
3.
4.

I
I
I
I

doubt I will get a good job as an adult.

think I will struggle to nd a good job as an adult.
expect to have difculty keeping a job as an adult.
doubt that going to school will make a difference in my life as an adult.

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