Occupational aspirations at the end of compulsory schooling: The interplay of parents’ educational background, work values and self-Concepts in the reproduction of inequality

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Decisions about further schooling or vocational training are imminent at the end of lower secondary education, and they determine educational and occupational trajectories. Understanding decision processes during this transition helps to elucidate the intergenerational reproduction of inequality. The aim of this study is to untangle influences on students’ occupational aspirations and how their parents’ educational level shapes these aspirations. We analysed data from an online survey of 3078 students at approximately 15 years of age in the general track of lower secondary school (‘Neue Mittelschule’) in Vienna (Austria). Based on regression analyses and path models, we show that educational background is related to occupational aspirations. Work values, attitudes towards school and social capital shape occupational aspirations but cannot be (fully) explained by educational background. Furthermore, we find no evidence that locus of control affects the level of occupational aspirations.