The way adolescents view their future based on their current opportunities was investigated. Age, gender, year in school, working, and kind of school were related to expectations about the future. Some 335 youths (180 M, 150 F), average age 16 years and 2 months, responded to questionnaires in five kinds of schools: a private school, a traditional public school and three schools targeted for poor and/or street children. The respondents indicated on a five point scale their expectations about eleven aspects: schooling, work, owning a home, health, friends, country and politicians. A canonical analysis resulted in two correlations (rc = .68 e rc = .34), indicating two significant relations: (a) adolescent that are in a more advanced grade in a private school have higher expectations to finish high school and to enter university; (b) those who do not go to private school are less likely to expect a good job or to own a home.
adolescents; expectations about the future