The Parental Influences on a Student’s Undergraduate Collegiate Choices By Sam Butterbaugh Abstract Undeniably, one of the largest influences on a child as they age is his or her parents. A specifically important choice of children that may be shaped by their parents is where they decide to attend college and what they decide to study. These choices may define important factors for the remainder of a student’s life such as where they live or what their occupation becomes. Existing scholars have analyzed the effects of expected earnings and how they influence a student’s major choice. Additionally, there has been research done that studies the effects of family income on whether or not children attend college. However, there has been a lack of research that studies the relationship between a student’s familial influences on their school choice and major choice. This study investigates the effects of the student-­‐parent relationship, perception of parents’ financial and occupational success, and family structure on a student’s choice of where to attend college and what they decide to major in. My primary data was collected through the use of surveys administered to freshman and sophomore students attending the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities. My results support that each of the above variables are a significant influence on a student’s college or major choice, with the significance of the outcome varying among the relationship of a student’s father and mother. Key words: Parental relationship, income, major choice Submitted under the faculty supervision of Professor Colleen Manchester, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Business, Magna cum laude, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, December 2012. Butterbaugh 1 1. Introduction Most can agree that in the last 20 to 30 years our nation has witnessed an increasingly heightened amount of parental guidance over the raising of a child. However, many argue that this trend has been taken too far. At the age of 18, a teenager becomes an adult and is considered old enough to make decisions for him or herself, yet many parents continue a high level of parenting during the college years. Opinions on whether this may be good or bad aside, this phenomenon allows for research to be conducted on the different familial influences and how they affect a child’s own life choices. This paper intends to evaluate the level of parental influence that affects the college and career choices made by freshman and sophomore college students. As a college student myself, it is not uncommon to learn of other students that base important life decisions on previous decisions made by their parents. Some students are influenced by where to attend school and as far as what they decide to study. A student may be influenced by parents to attend the same college they attended or even to major in the same field in which a parent works. In some cases, this may truly be the choice of a student based on their genuine interest in a school or topic. This paper will assess the extent to which parents influence the school and major choice of a student. Through personal experience and analysis of prior research conducted, I have identified three main mechanisms that I believe are viable predictors for where a student chooses to attend undergraduate college and what they decide to choose as a major. These mechanisms include the strength of the student’s parental relationship, extent to which they perceive their Butterbaugh 2 parents’ financial and occupational success, and whether or not they have siblings. I have collected data from current University of Minnesota students and fit the three variables to a linear regression model to analyze whether a match between a student’s and parent’s college choices relate to these factors. I consider the relationship separately by mother and father to see if the pattern differs in that relationship quality may be more important with mothers, while career success may be more important to fathers due to historical social norms. My results show that while the first two factors, career success and parental relationship quality, are of less significance, these social norms are supported. Relationship quality was only found to be statistically significant in regards to a student’s mother, while career success was moderately significant for both mothers and fathers. The factor of being an only child, however, proved to be very significant in relationship to both a student’s mother and father. By researching the above listed aspects of an average student’s familial relationship, important conclusions may be drawn that could dictate what types of students colleges should focus recruiting efforts on. With the amount of personal information collected from a student’s college application, a recruiting team may be able to analyze what type of students may need more attention to be convinced to attend a school or specific college (ie: business school vs. liberal arts). Data for my research was collected through the use of surveys. The main focus of the research will be on school and major selection, and how they are influenced by the predicted mechanisms. Butterbaugh 3 The remainder of this paper will provide detailed explanations of the steps that were taken to conduct my research and the analysis of the collected data. Prior to creating my hypotheses, I read a variety of research studies related to my topic. Analysis of these studies is found in the following section, including how the research shaped my own thoughts and predictions for my findings. Following my literature review, you will find sections devoted to explaining how I built my research model and the hypotheses that have been tested. Included in these sections is the data I have collected, the regression analysis results, and the conclusions that I was able to make based on the results. 2. Literature Review The goal of this literature review is to evaluate prior research related to my thesis topic that has been conducted and analyzed. I have used the findings and conclusions of these scholarly articles to help develop support for my own research hypotheses. This review is organized into two sub-­‐sections that relate to the main questions of my research. The first sub-­‐
section analyzes prior studies that relate to the monetary influences on a student’s major choice and success. The second sub-­‐section focuses on prior studies that relate to a student’s college school choice. 2.1 Major Choice Undoubtedly, a large measure of success is tied to monetary success. Several scholarly articles analyze the effect of economic wealth on a student’s career choices as well as the inter-­‐
generational effects of familial wealth. Butterbaugh 4 Past research has studied the effect of expected earnings on the major choice of students. Using data on French students, they found that the elasticity of major choices to expected earnings is relatively low (Beffy, Fougere, & Maurel, 2012). Although the relation is quantitatively small, the study finds that it is statistically significant. This study is important because a parent’s income could be considered the expected earnings of a major or career choice. I would argue that this elasticity would be stronger in the US, where our culture values money much greater than in France. Furthermore, the impact of expected earnings associated with majors in humanities and social sciences is substantially higher than others (Beffy et al., 2012). Additionally, It has become a long-­‐standing trend that wealthy parents produce wealthy children. Menchik (1979) drew conclusions on an inter-­‐generational study he conducted that researched the mid-­‐parent wealth of parents and their subsequent children. Midparent wealth is the estate of the parent dying first, W1, plus the estate of the parent dying second, W2, minus the interspousal transfer, IST (to avoid double counting), divided by two: (Menchik, 1979) MPW = 1/2 x {W1 +W2-­‐ IST) The study found that on average, wealthy parents produced wealthy children. This could mean that if a parent is wealthy, their child may follow in their footsteps to achieve a similar wealth. 2.2 Prior research on the influences on student school choices The second facet of relevant research revolves around studying the effects on a student’s choice of what college to attend. The root of this question lies in whether or not a Butterbaugh 5 student even decides to attend college at all. Of several socioeconomic factors studied, the most important factor in whether or not a student chose to attend college was the family income (Christensen, Melder, & Weisbrod, 1975). However, the study finds that the effect of family income on this choice is quite small. The income elasticity is small relative to the disparity in attendance rates between youths of different socioeconomic status (Christensen et al., 1975). Another factor to be considered is family structure. Only children consistently score higher in intelligence and achievement motivated tests when compared to children from larger families (Mancillas, 2006). Successful parents would likely hold higher standards for their children, especially in respect to an only child. They may also expect their child to follow in their footsteps and even attend the same school. Mancillas also reports that only children experience better relationships with their parents. Children that have favorable perceptions of their parents are probably more likely to consider attending the same school that their parents graduated from. There is a lack of research that investigates what kind of familial influences factor into a student’s choice in where to attend college, specifically whether or not they decide to attend a parent’s alumni school. Each of these studies offer research conclusions that are relevant to my research and have helped me create my own hypotheses. However, the literature that I have reviewed does not include any analysis of how a child’s parents may directly influence his or her decisions about college choice and major choice, allowing for me to pursue a novel research idea. I plan to fill the gaps in these studies by evaluating, in depth, the effects that a student’s parents and Butterbaugh 6 family have on their choices, specifically the effects of parental relationship, perceived parental success, and family structure. These scholarly articles have provided me with support for my theories that I will analyze and evaluate in the remainder of this report. In my following study design I will explain how prior research has shaped my hypotheses and how I plan to test these hypotheses. 3. Methodology This section provides in-­‐depth detail about how my research study was designed. To begin, I have listed the three hypotheses that I have developed, including some supporting connections drawn from my literature review. I have described exactly how my data was collected and what criteria were used for finding students that would provide relevant data to test the hypotheses. Section 3.3 explains the method of analysis that I have chosen to use for my data analysis. Information is provided on the chosen regression model as well as the actual equation that was used to fit the variables to the model. 3.1 Hypotheses Hypothesis 1: Students whose parents are successful are more likely to choose a similar major to their parents’ careers. My research studies the parental influence on a student’s major choice. This hypothesis relies on the conjecture that influence is based in part on whether or not a student’s parents are successful. It has been shown that wealthy parents do, on average, have wealthy children (Menchik, 1979). Although Menchik’s study focused solely on the wealth of parent’s compared Butterbaugh 7 to children, I believe his study gives a good basis for me to investigate whether students follow in their parent’s footsteps to achieve similar career-­‐related success. As stated before, the impact of expected earnings associated with majors in humanities and social sciences is substantially higher than others (Beffy et al. , 2012). This study indicates that students will often pursue a major that will yield a higher financial return. Therefore, it is important to consider the wealth of a student’s parents when evaluating their college major choice. If a student knows that his or her parents make a lot of money, they may be more inclined to pursue a similar career in hopes of achieve similar financial success. Hypothesis 2. A student with a good parental relationship will be more likely to choose the school his/her parent attended and major that is related to their career. This hypothesis is based on the conjecture that students with better parental relationships tend to accept their parent’s values and identify with them (Knafo & Schwartz, 2004). Of course this does not mean that everyone that has a good relationship with their parent’s will follow in their footsteps. However, I conjecture that a student with a better parental relationship, on average, will be more likely to identify with their parents than those students that do not get along with their parents. Hypothesis 3: An only child will be more likely to choose a parent’s alumni school and a major similar to the parents’ careers. As I touched on in my literature review, there has been extensive research on the effects of being an only child. The most prominent finding that influenced my third hypothesis was the fact that only children outperform others in intelligence and achievement-­‐motivated Butterbaugh 8 tests (Mancillas, 2006). Without siblings in the home, an only child spends more time interacting with their parents. I expect that these combinations contribute to the probability that only children will be more likely to follow similar college and career paths as their parents. There are many arguments that can be made for the positive and negative effects of growing up as an only child. In regards to my research, I have inferred that being an only child may have a significant effect on the eventual decision of where a student chooses to attend college and what they decide to major in. This hypothesis will simply be measured by using the question on the survey that asks each student how many siblings they have. 3.2 Data In order to test my hypotheses, I have collected data through the use of a short survey. I designed the survey to include a variety of questions with answers that have been converted into linear variables. My data is comprised of 80 records (students) that are all of freshman or sophomore status at the University of Minnesota. My surveys were distributed to passing students in Coffman Hall as well as some students from my current classes. There were several cases in which a student did not answer questions related to one parent. As such, the total population for each regression ran is 79. The collected data has been organized and stored in Microsoft Excel. The outcomes that are captured by my survey and analyzed for influence are a match between a student and parent’s undergraduate college attended and a match between the student’s major and his or her parent’s occupation or undergraduate major. These two outcomes have been recorded for a student’s mother and father. Separate data has been Butterbaugh 9 recorded for each parent for a variety of reasons including the fact that some students do not have a mother and father. Additionally, by separating the analysis between the two parents of a student, it provides more accurate results as spouses often have attended different colleges and work in different fields. My first hypothesis is evaluated using the four questions that students are asked to agree or disagree with relating to their parent’s careers. The questions in this section of the survey were developed to measure the financial perception a student has of his or her parents. It is hypothesized that students with a higher composite score for these questions will be more likely to have chosen the same major as either of their parents or a similar major to their parents’ careers. Before collecting data about the relationships between students and their parents, we must first understand what defines a quality relationship. In a study conducted in 2007 on Mexican-­‐
American adolescents, researchers identified the following attributes as some of the most important that define a good parent-­‐child relationship (Brown, Crockett, Russell, & Shen, 2007). The first attribute that was identified was valued qualities, including honesty, respect, trust, etc. Also considered to be very important was open communication where parents talk with, advise, and understand their children. Parents must be able to provide their children with emotional support by expressing interest in what they do, providing verbal affection and emotional dependability. However, researchers place equal importance on establishing control in the relationship through monitoring, strictness, and permissiveness. Another essential quality that defined a good parent-­‐child relationship was providing instrumental support to the child. Butterbaugh 10 This includes giving all kinds of help such as financial support and physical care. Lastly, researchers determined that parents must make indirect displays such as shared activities and sacrifice. Using the attributes identified in this study as an aid, I have developed a series of questions that will allow me to analyze the quality of a student-­‐parent relationship and my second hypothesis. Students were asked to agree or disagree (on a 5-­‐point scale) with six questions at the end of the survey regarding their relationship with their parents. Based on answers for these questions, they are given an average score that will capture the quality of their relationship with their parents. I also use the question about how often students communicate with their parents to analyze their parental relationship. After assigning parental relationship scores for each sampled student, the data will be used to determine whether or not those students with higher scores have attended the same undergraduate school as their parents and chosen the same major as their parents or a similar major to their parents’ careers. The third hypothesis will simply be measured by using the question on the survey that asks each student how many siblings they have. The following is a table that shows the summary statistics for each of variables and outcomes that I will use to evaluate my hypotheses. I was surprised to see how high the mean scores were for the four variables that were scored on an ordinal scale (parental relationship and perceived success). All four of these variables were scored on a scale of 0 – 5. Considering that I had a relatively large population of students surveyed (80 records), I would have expected the average mean scores for these variables to be lower. The mean score for the outcome of Butterbaugh 11 same college was slightly over .2 for each parent, insinuating that about 20 percent of surveyed students attend the same undergraduate school that their parents attended. The mean score for the outcome of same major was also slightly over .2 for each parent, supporting that about 20 percent of the students also have chosen the same major that their parents chose in college. Finally, the summary statistics show that about 13 percent of students have chosen a major that is similar to their fathers’ careers and about 18 percent have chosen a major that is similar to their mothers’ careers. Table 1: Summary Statistics Summary Statistics Mean Standard Deviation Min Max Outcomes: Same College: Father 0.213 0.412 0 1 Same College: Mother 0.200 0.403 0 1 Same Major: Father 0.213 0.412 0 1 Same Major: Mother 0.238 0.428 0 1 Major Match Career: Father 0.125 0.333 0 1 Major Match Career: Mother 0.175 0.383 0 1 Variables: Only Child 0.163 0.371 0 1 Occupational Perspective: Father 4.377 0.709 2.5 5 Occupational Perspective: Mother 3.997 0.751 2 5 Parental Relationship: Father 4.255 0.638 2 5 Parental Relationship: Mother 4.525 0.575 2.5 5 Notes: Standard Deviation is an inaccurate measure in regards to the binary variables. “Occupational Perspective” is the composite score for a student’s perception of their mother or father’s occupational success. Butterbaugh 12 3.3 Method of Analysis To analyze my data I will be using a linear probability model. This statistical model is a type of binomial regression model, where each observed outcome takes on a value of 1 or 0. The probability of an outcome equaling 1 or 0 is dependent upon one or more explanatory variables. This model will be applied to the collected data and fitted to a simple linear regression. After all of my data has been analyzed using this method, I will then make conclusions based on my how valid my hypotheses are. The following regression model will be used to evaluate my research: Pr 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ = 1 = ∝ + 𝛽! 𝑆𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 + 𝛽! 𝑄𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 + 𝛽! 𝑂𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑 𝛽! represents the relationship pertaining to the financial and occupational success of a student’s parents. This is captured using the composite score from the financial and occupational success questions. Support for hypothesis 1 will be tested by evaluating 𝛽! > 0. 𝛽! represents the relationship pertaining to the quality of relationship between a student and their parents. Support for hypothesis 2 will be tested by evaluating 𝛽! > 0. Both 𝛽! and 𝛽! will be evaluated twice, once for the father and once for the mother. 𝛽! represents the measured influence of a student being an only child. Support for hypothesis 3 will be tested by evaluating 𝛽! > 0. 4. Results As stated above, the results of my research have been evaluated using a linear probability model. Regression analysis was run on my data using the statistical software, Stata. Butterbaugh 13 The software automatically analyzes data based on a two-­‐sided t-­‐test. However, my data needs to be tested using a one-­‐sided t-­‐test. To obtain the correct p-­‐values for my regression analysis, I simply divided all p-­‐values by two. P-­‐values for each variable were then compared to the standard levels of statistical significance: 0.10, 0.05, and 0.01. If a p-­‐values falls below 0.10, it is considered to be moderately significant. If the value is below 0.05, it is considered to be statistically significant. If the value is below 0.01, it is considered to have a strong statistical significance. The following two tables show the regression results that were calculated for each variable in regard to the studied outcomes for a student’s father and mother: Table 2: Regression Results (Father) Variables Same College Regression Same Major Regression Financial/Occupational Success -­‐.050 .010* (.071) (.069) Parental Relationship .007 .081 (.079) (.077) Only Child .308*** .255** (.124) (.121) R2 .077 .131 Sample Size 79 79 F-­‐Statistic 2.100* 3.780** Notes: Standardized regression coefficients are reported for entire sample. Standard error is in parentheses. *p ≤ .10, **p ≤ .05, ***p ≤ .01 Butterbaugh 14 Table 3: Regression Results (Mother) Variables Same College Regression Same Major Regression Financial/Occupational Success -­‐.001 .102* (.069) (.073) Parental Relationship .119* -­‐.021 (.088) (.093) Only Child .309*** .314*** (.121) (.121) 2
R .110 .122 Sample Size 79 79 F-­‐Statistic 3.090** 3.470** Notes: Standardized regression coefficients are reported for entire sample. Standard error is in parentheses. *p ≤ .10, **p ≤ .05, ***p ≤ .01 Now that statistical analysis has been run, it is evident that my first hypothesis is partially valid. In regards to a student attending the same undergraduate college as their parents, financial and occupational success of the parents has no significant influence on the student’s decision. However, in regards to a student choosing a similar major to that of their parents’ careers, financial and occupational success of each parent is a moderately significant influence on the student’s choice. This means that I can say with 90% confidence that the financial and occupational success of a student’s father and mother will, on average, influence a student to choose a similar major to that of his or her parents’ careers. The statistical analysis shows that my second hypothesis is not supported in relationship to a student’s father. However, in relationship to a student’s mother, the relationship with the mother has a moderately significant influence on a student’s undergraduate college choice. This means that I can say with 90% confidence that the relationship a student has with his or her Butterbaugh 15 mother will, on average, influence a student to choose the same undergraduate college that his or her mother attended. Finally, the data analysis shows that my third hypothesis is valid for a student’s relationship to both the father and mother. I can say with 99% confidence that when a student is an only child, the father’s undergraduate college will influence the choice of the student’s college choice. I can say with 95% confidence that when a student is an only child, they are, on average, more likely to choose a major that is similar to the father’s career. In regards to a student’s mother, I can say with 99% confidence that when a student is an only child, they will, on average, be more likely to choose the same undergraduate college that his or her mother attended and will also choose a major that is similar to the career of the student’s mother. I would conjecture that the reason that only a mother’s relationship is significant in shaping a student’s decision is because children may be more inclined to become emotionally close to their mother. This assumption is based on my own personal experience what I have viewed in the relationships of my friends and family. Also included in my regression analysis are the F-­‐statistic and the r2 variable. The F-­‐stat is a measure of whether the statistical model used in my analysis was relevant. The null hypothesis for the F-­‐test is that 𝛽! = 𝛽! = 𝛽! = 0. The f-­‐statistic that was recorded for each of my outcomes and for each parent was above the value of zero, supporting that my statistical model used was significant. The level of significance, denoted in the results tables above, for each f-­‐statistic shows the model was effective in evaluating all of the outcomes. The r2 variable for each outcome was close to .1, insinuating that about 10 percent of the variability in each Butterbaugh 16 outcome can be accounted for. This may seem low, however it is actually not surprising considering the variety of factors that could contribute to variability in this study. 5. Conclusion The purpose of this study was to analyze the levels of influence that an average American college student experiences from his or her parents on making important life decisions. Specifically, I used this study to investigate whether a student’s parents had a significant influence on their undergraduate college choice and major choice. To accomplish this, I studied three mechanisms that I believed would potentially impact these decisions for students. The results of my analysis support that a student’s perception of his or her parent’s financial and occupational success as well as their parental relationships has little to no effect on a students school or major choice. However, my results showed that only children are significantly influenced by their parents to attend the same undergraduate college and major in the same or similar field as their parents. These results are important because they help us better understand what motivates a student when making these important life decisions. College recruiting programs are always looking for a new leg up on how to acquire the best talent for their universities. While filling out school applications, a student will almost always reveals the number siblings that he or she has. Knowing that only children are more likely to follow in the footsteps of their parents, recruiters may know whether or not they have an upper hand in attracting a potential student to their school or program. They could also use this information to appeal to a student personally Butterbaugh 17 through conversation. If they know that an only-­‐child’s parents are alumni of the school, they could use that as a potential selling point for choosing their school. The findings of my research were limited to studying the influences on students that attend a large public university. The surveyed population was also limited to a random selection of students without regard to the University of Minnesota program that they are enrolled in. That being said, future researchers may consider studying how these mechanisms influence the choices of students that attend other types of undergraduate schools such as small and private colleges. Researchers could then compare statistics across different schools to see if size, geography, etc. make a difference in the effects that parents have on a student’s choices. Researchers may also consider expanding on the idea of comparing results of parental influences across the different programs within a school such as business, liberal arts, education, etc. I believe that there might be higher and lower levels of influence on student decisions dependent on the program they are enrolled in. Butterbaugh 18 Reference List Abar, C., Turrisi, R., & Abar, B. (a2011). Brief report: Tailgating as a unique context for parental modeling on college student alcohol use.Journal Of Adolescence, 34(5), 1103-­‐
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