College Aspirations Among Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders: The Importance of Maternal Education and Neglect

• DOI: 10.1177/1541204018821416
• Published date: 01 October 2019
• Date: 01 October 2019
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

College Aspirations Among

Incarcerated Juvenile Offenders:

The Importance of Maternal

Education and Neglect

Kristen P. Kremer

1

and Michael G. Vaughn

2

Abstract

Youth incarcerated in juvenile detention facilities in Western Pennsylvania completed ques-

tionnaires related to family history, educational attainment, and psychological traits. Linear

regression models were conducted to examine the influence of family and individual trait factors on

youth’s aspirations to attend college. Nearly 90% of youth aspired to attend college. Findings from

regression analyses indicate that maternal education, neglect, and youth irresponsibility were sig-

nificantly associated with aspirations. In particular, juveniles with a mother who completed some

college or more had 3.37 times greater odds of aspiring to attend college compared to juveniles with

a mother who had a high school diploma or less (OR ¼3.37, 95% confidence interval [CI] ¼[1.02,

11.11]). Additionally, juveniles experiencing greater neglect (OR ¼0.42, 95% CI [0.18, 0.94]) and

reporting higher irresponsibility (OR ¼0.84, 95% CI [0.72, 0.99]) were less likely to have college

aspirations. Practitioners should capitalize upon aspirations to attend college and help youth

establish concrete plans for turning their aspirations into reality.

Keywords

incarcerated youth, academic outcomes, college aspirations, expectations

An estimated 101,000 youth aged 10–20 years old live in residential placement facilities for delin-

quent behaviors, which comprises 224 youth per 100,000 in the general population (Sedlak & Bruce,

2010). Most of these youth are male (85%) with half aged 16–17 years old. Along with significant

costs of housing youth in residential placements, juvenile offenders incur great burd ens on the

general population well into adulthood. In particular, incarceration during adolescence increases

the likelihood of adult incarceration by 49%(Aizer & Doyle, 2015), furthering costs of residential

placement. Moreover, juvenile offenders have lower rates of educational attainment, poorer health,

and higher unemployment rates than nonoffenders (Aizer & Doyle, 2015; Kirk & Sampson, 2013;

1

Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

2

School of Social Work, College for Public Health and Social Justice, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, USA

Corresponding Author:

Kristen P. Kremer, Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work, Kansas State University, 204 Waters Hall,

1603 Old Claflin Place, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA.

Email: kpkremer@ksu.edu

Youth Violence and JuvenileJustice

2019, Vol. 17(4) 431-447

ªThe Author(s) 2018

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DOI: 10.1177/1541204018821416

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Sweeten, 2006; Tanner, Davies, & O’Grady, 1999). Reintegration of juvenile offenders back into

society can help to improve their long-term outcomes, and support with educational outcomes may

be the key for success.

Many juvenile offenders enter residential placements with poor school records and high rates of

grade retention. Particularly, 48%of youth in custody are below-grade level for their age, compared

to 28%of youth in the general population (Sedlak & Bruce, 2010). This may be due to heightened

truant and externalizing behaviors (Vaughn, Maynard, Salas-Wright, Perron, & Abdon, 2013), with

53%of youth in custody reporting that they had skipped school classes prior to residential placement

and 57%of youth in custody having been suspended the past school year (Sedlak & Bruce, 2010).

Despite poor school performance upon entering custody, juvenile offenders are optimistic about the

future. Past research has found 68%of juvenile offenders to report aspirations to attend college

(Sedlak & Bruce, 2010). College aspirations have been described as the first step in future college

attendance, and research confirms this relati onship: Positive expectations for one’s educa tional

success have been correlated with college satisfaction (Konings, Brand-Gruwel, van Merrienboer,

& Broers, 2008), postsecondary enrollment (Princiotta et al., 2014), academic abilities (Liu, Cheng,

Chen, & Wu, 2009), and writing scores (Kuh, Gonyea, & Williams, 2005). Optimism of juvenile

offenders can be leveraged to improve their educational outcomes, and understanding the predictors

of college aspirations among juvenile offenders is crucial.

While college aspirations may be thefirst step on the road to college attendance, they serve a more

important purpose for juvenile offenders in particular. Silver and Ulmer (2012) theorize that youth’s

conception of themselves in the future can be used to overcome self-control deficits and steer away

from delinquent behavior. Related to academic achievement, youth’s aspirations to attend college can

motivate them to complete school work and not engage in behaviorthat would go against their future

goals. Silver and Ulmer’s theory is supported by Clinkinbeard (2014), who found future-oriented

academic expectations to reduce delinquent behavior, controlling for self-control. Additionally, Clin-

kinbeard foundthe effect of self-control on delinquencywas weakened as future orientation increased.

Thus, educational aspirations are critical for delinquent youth. Although aspirations may not always

translate into educational attainment, given additional socioeconomic and behavioral barriers for this

population, the mere presence of high educational aspirations can guide delinquent youth toward less

engagement in criminal behavior. The current study explores the predictors of educational aspirations

utilizing interview data from a sample of incarcerated juvenile offenders.

Theoretical Framework

To consider the development of aspirations among incarcerated juvenile offenders, the present study

is framed within the correlated disadvantage model (Haverman & Wolfe, 1995), which looks at the

structure of families to consider how family characteristics outside of income can interact to limit

future opportunities for children. This model suggests that while family income is typically seen as

the cause of reduced educational and employment outcomes, there is an abundance of family

characteristics associated with income, which can better explain why children from low-income

families have poor future outcomes. Particularly, family characteristics such as parental education,

marital status, and economic assets make it difficult for children to adequately develop and invest in

human capital, and these same characteristics have been previously linked with children’s academic

outcomes (Appleyard, Egeland, van Dulmen, & Sroufe, 2005). For example, parents with lower

income jobs typically have lower levels of education (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).

Parents’ lack of education makes it difficult for them to help with children’s homework and fully

participate in children’s schooling, both of which are crucial for educational attainment. Parents

without a college degree will also not have past experience with completing college applications and

applying for financial aid to help their children enroll in college. Moreover, families headed by a

432 Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 17(4)