Educational Outcomes and Aspirations of Upper Secondary School Students: The Cultural Capital and Relative Risk Aversion Perspectives
Educational Outcomes and Aspirations of Upper Secondary School Students: The Cultural Capital and Relative Risk Aversion Perspectives

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article was to address the relevance of cultural capitaland relative risk aversion theories for educational outcomes and aspirations of uppersecondary school students in Croatia, and to examine whether these approaches arecompatible in explaining educational inequalities. Linear and logistic regressionswere used to analyze data from 2106 students in their last year of upper secondaryschool (16–18 years old). Both constructs, cultural capital and relative risk aversion,had positive effects on school performance, enrolment of gymnasium instead ofvocational school and aspirations for higher education. The analyses indicatedthat cultural factors frequently associated with school performance should not beseparated from more direct status concerns shaping educational decisions. Ratherthan seeing them as unrelated, these mechanisms may both be seen as constitutiveof students’ educational dispositions.

• Details
• Contents