Do primary school children’s career aspirations matter? The relationship between family poverty, career aspirations and emotional and behavioural problems.

Abstract

The association between family poverty and children’s emotional (internalising) and behavioural (externalising) problems is well-established. In this study we extended previous research by examining the role of young children’s career aspirations in the association between family poverty and internalising and externalising problems. Using data from the UK’s Millennium Cohort Study (MCS), we tested a path model linking family poverty and maternal qualifications (as a proxy for family-level human capital) to children’s internalising and externalising problems via their career aspirations at age 7 years. We also investigated whether aspirations moderate the association between family poverty and internalising and externalising problems. We found that career aspirations were related to maternal qualifications but not family poverty or externalising problems, and were higher in girls. As expected, family poverty was significantly associated with both externalising and internalising problems. Aspirations moderated the association between family poverty and externalising problems, such that the association between family poverty and externalising problems was weaker among children with higher career aspirations.