1.0 Introduction
1.1 Background to the study
This study examines the effects of socio-economic status on the career aspirations for occupational preference of secondary school students in Sokoto metropolis. Several researchers have long recognized that occupational aspiration is influenced by socio-economic status (SES) of secondary school students in particular, the background of their families is especially important. McLaughlin, Hunt, and Montgomery (1976) found that SES affects the occupational and educational aspirations of female high school seniors, a finding in agreement with Empey's (1956) study on males. Krippner (1963) studied students' occupational preferences and their parents' occupational levels using Roe's (1956) occupational scale and found that the occupations students liked to enter were related to the status of their parents' occupational level.
According to Uche (1994) children from parents with high socio-economic status are likely provided with high quality private education from nursery up to university level. Given this opportunity, it is likely that such children will be less delinquent than their counterpart from lower socio-economic background. However from an empirical study by Coughin and Vuchimah (1996), there is a relationship between family socio-economic status and juvenile delinquency. Female secondary school students tend to act out as a result of low level of support from their mother while boys tend to act out as a result of low level parental mentoring; however the study concludes that family structure is not a predictor of juvenile delinquency, low parental monitoring did seem to predict higher drug use, Dishon and Loeber (1985).
In another study on child rearing style and students' dishonest behavior by Ajake and Bisong (2008), child rearing style is a function of family socio-economic status. Significant difference exist between respondents from autocratic child rearing family and those from democratic homes in lying, stealing and truancy, in each case autocratically reared subjects are more vulnerable to delinquency. Again a significant difference exist between subjects reared under democratic child rearing style and their counterpart reared under the laissez-faire rearing style in lying, stealing and truancy. In each case, those who are brought under the laissez-faire families are the more vulnerable.
Blau and Duncan (1967) and Duncan and Featherman (1972) showed a strong positive correlation between family SES and an individual's occupational aspirations and attainment. Sewell, Haller, and Straus' (1957) survey of secondary school seniors showed a positive relationship between SES and educational and occupational aspirations of young women. Sewell and Shaw (1967), in a later study, concluded that for women, SES has a greater effect than intelligence on selection of attendance to and graduation from college.
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