Document Type
Dissertation - Open Access
Award Date
1980
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Department / School
Rural Sociology
First Advisor
Donna J. Hess
Abstract
Status attainment, as commonly indicated by levels of educational and occupational achievement, is a complicated process. A variety of variables have been found to be quite influential in the determination of one's eventual position in the social hierarchy of American society. Research done jointly by William H. Sewell and Robert M. Hauser (1972, 1975) regarding the status attainment process has resulted in a Wisconsin model of Adolescent Achievement in which the authors have identified a number of experiences that have significant import for young people's post-high school educational and occupational attainments. The Sewell and Hauser model links socioeconomic origins and academic ability with status attainments by means of such social psychological variables as academic performance, encouragement from significant others, and aspiration formation. In order to assess the explanatory power of the Sewell and Hauser model as applied to rural Native American youth, a questionnaire was administered to a sample of high school students attending a mission school on a reservation in South Dakota. Results of the survey indicated the combined effects of model variables to be relevant to the explanation of status expectations among Indian youth. However, the data also revealed a lack of explanatory power regarding the ordering of variables in the model, thus supporting the hypothesis of the present research. This finding held true even when the effects of such variables as Native American cultural orientation and extended family encouragement for further education were controlled. Lastly, significant differences in the educational and occupational expectations of male and female Indian students were discovered. The evidence suggests a parental role modeling explanation for these differences.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Social status
Indian youth -- North America
Format
application/pdf
Publisher
South Dakota State University
Recommended Citation
Decker, Leonard R., "A Comparative Perspective on the Status Attainment Process of White and Native American Youth" (1980). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 5820.
https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/5820