PARENTS ASPIRATIONS FOR CHILDRENS EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS - RELATIONSTO PARENTAL BELIEFS AND SOCIAL ADDRESS VARIABLES

Examined in this study were social address variables (race, community, and children's sex and age), and parental beliefs (parents' confidenc e in their children's academic abilities, beliefs about their own abil ity to teach their children, beliefs about the nature of children's in telligence, and achievement-related childrearing values) in relation t o parents' aspirations for their children's educational attainment. Ba sed on a sample of 363 parents (42% African American and 58% European American) of elementary school-aged children, results of regression an alyses indicated that each parental belief was a significant, independ ent predictor of parents' aspirations. The social address variables we re related to parental aspirations indirectly, by way of significant r elations to parental beliefs; community was the most consistent predic tor of parental beliefs.