Projects
Project Two: Biographical Agency and Developmental Outcomes
Principal Investigator: Ingrid Schoon (Institute of Education,
London)
Researcher:Elzbieta Polek (Institute of Education, London)
Aims
The main aims are: (1) to investigate the aspirations and life plans of
men and women growing up in different socio-historical contexts, and to
document how these aspirations have changed in the last 30 years; (2)
to examine to what extent young men and women differ in the aspirations
and plans they have for the future; (3) to investigate gender differences
in the precursors influencing the formation of individual life plans;
(4) to document and classify gender-specific differences in the transition
from adolescence to adulthood, taking into account linked outcomes in
education, training, work, and family formation; (5) to analyse to what
extent adult attainments are influenced by personal agency, by the social
and historical context, and by the interaction of both.
Background
This project builds on previous ESRC funded research on risk and resilience
in the life course in which individual aspirations were identified as
a key factor stimulating long-term positive adjustment despite the experience
of adversity during childhood. Individual aspirations have been shown
to influence educational and occupational attainment, family status, health,
and are associated with upward social mobility. This project will investigate
gender differences in the formation of aspirations for the future as well
as the related developmental outcomes in a changing socio-historical context.
A developmental-contextual perspective of life course transitions is adopted,
arguing that individuals are not passively exposed to external factors,
but are agents of their own development, i.e. they affect the context
that influences them. Within this framework the formation of individual
aspirations is conceptualised as biographical agency processes, based
on the interpretation of cumulative experiences in the family and school
context. The longitudinal approach spanning from birth to adulthood allows
the investigation of how individual and contextual factors interact and
develop over time.
The main research questions are: How have men's and women's aspirations regarding education and occupation changed in the last 30 years? How do socio-economic factors and other socio-cultural influences within the family and school context (as for example parental involvement in education and teacher expectations) combine with gender to shape biographical agency processes? How are individual aspirations matched to previous and concurrent academic attainments (avoiding over- or underaspiring), and does this matching process differ for men and women? How are men's and women's educational and occupational aspirations influenced by plans and attitudes towards family formation? How do psychosocial and biological processes associated with puberty influence biographical agency? To what extent are men's and women's transition patterns from school to work (relating to experiences in training, education, and work) influenced by biographical agency processes, by structural constraints, or by the interaction of both, and have these influences changed over time? Are there gender specific pathways and processes by which biographical agency shapes adult attainments (i.e. linked outcomes in education, work, family status, physical and psychological well-being), and have these changed over time?
Methodology
This project draws on data from the 1958
National Child Development Study (NCDS) and the 1970
British Cohort Study (BCS70). In addition data planned to be collected
for the New DfES Longitudinal Study of young people born in the 1990s
will be analysed. The data will be analysed using descriptive statistics,
multivariate analysis, time-dependent analysis, and structural equation
modelling (SEM). As well as the variable-based approach describing the
'average' person, a person-based approach will be adopted, analysing how
variables combine in individuals, addressing the multitudinous factors
that influence individual development, and implying a holistic view on
individual functioning (Cairns, Bergman & Kagan, 1998). The person-centred
approach will be used to identify gender specific typologies of biographical
agency modes, transition patterns from school to work, and patterns of
adult adjustment. Several methods will be used for this purpose, including
cluster analytical techniques, configural frequency analysis, and sequence
analysis.
Project Contact
Professor Ingrid Schoon
Faculty of Policy and Society
Institute of Education
University of London
20 Bedford Way
London
WC1H 0AL
I.Schoon@ioe.ac.uk
+44 (0)20 7612 6238
