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Perceptions of Education as an Avenue to Life Course Success: A Study of Millennials

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Date Issued:
2014
Abstract/Description:
For more than a half a century the role of education and its influence on social mobility and status attainment has been a subject of research. Further more, education has been shown to be an important contributor for success over the life course. Much of the research surrounding status attainment and higher education has dealt with the Baby Boomer cohort. The purpose of the study is to examine education from a perspective that is less talked about to this point. This study uses data gathered by the Pew Research Center and examines a specific age group, current 18-30 year olds (Millennials), to gather a better understanding of their attitudes towards the value of higher education within the current era of the economy, education, and job opportunity. According to the analysis, females report higher odds of feeling that a college degree is important to success later in life. Equally important, results indicate that Blacks have greater odds of perceiving education to be important for success in life. Results also demonstrated that in this particular study, other factors such as income and employment status did not significantly affect respondent's perceptions on the importance of education.
Title: Perceptions of Education as an Avenue to Life Course Success: A Study of Millennials.
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Name(s): Smith, Patrick, Author
Gay, David, Committee Chair
Lynxwiler, John, Committee Member
Wright, James, Committee Member
, Committee Member
University of Central Florida, Degree Grantor
Type of Resource: text
Date Issued: 2014
Publisher: University of Central Florida
Language(s): English
Abstract/Description: For more than a half a century the role of education and its influence on social mobility and status attainment has been a subject of research. Further more, education has been shown to be an important contributor for success over the life course. Much of the research surrounding status attainment and higher education has dealt with the Baby Boomer cohort. The purpose of the study is to examine education from a perspective that is less talked about to this point. This study uses data gathered by the Pew Research Center and examines a specific age group, current 18-30 year olds (Millennials), to gather a better understanding of their attitudes towards the value of higher education within the current era of the economy, education, and job opportunity. According to the analysis, females report higher odds of feeling that a college degree is important to success later in life. Equally important, results indicate that Blacks have greater odds of perceiving education to be important for success in life. Results also demonstrated that in this particular study, other factors such as income and employment status did not significantly affect respondent's perceptions on the importance of education.
Identifier: CFE0005263 (IID), ucf:50572 (fedora)
Note(s): 2014-05-01
M.A.
Sciences, Sociology
Masters
This record was generated from author submitted information.
Subject(s): education -- college -- degree -- higher education -- social mobility -- status attainment -- Millennials -- importance -- value
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005263
Restrictions on Access: public 2014-05-15
Host Institution: UCF

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