Aspirations of Chicano Youth from the Texas Border Region: A Metropolitan-Nonmetropolitan Comparison.

The document tested the level of generalization of a recent conclusion from past research (see ED075156) on nonmetropolitan (NM) south and southwest Texas Mexican American teenagers: that these youths have predominantly high and strong status aspirations and expectations. Earlier findings on NM Mexican American youth supported Merton's thesis that all types of youth have high aspirations for upward social mobility. This questioned much of the speculative assertion that Mexican Americans suffered impediments to social mobility due to low achievement aspirations derived from the patterns of values and beliefs linked to their subculture. Data were gathered from 2 separate studies of Texas Mexican American youth completed in the past 6 years: a 1967 study of NM youth in south Texas (Kuvlesky, Wright, and Juarez, 1971) and a study of El Paso youth (Venegas, 1973). Differences between NM and metropolitan (M) respondents were found to be statistically significant for both boys and girls relative to specific educational and occupational status projections types for both aspirations and expectations. In addition, statistically significant differences existed between the 2 samples of Mexican American youth in reference to intensity of education aspiration and certainty of attainment of expected occupational attainment. Statistical data is presented in 12 tables. (KM)