Influence of Academic streams on Career aspirations of Kashmiri Adolescents

Abstract

Choosing a career is often considered a major  turning point in  an  adult’s life. This decision alone has the  potential to open the door for success or close the door of opportunity. Adolescence is the time of new challenges and new opportunities when teenagers develop certain aspirations regarding their educational and future careers. The present study was carried out to investigate the influence of Academic streams on Career aspirations of Adolescents. It was a descriptive survey study comprising of 600 adolescent respondents taken from higher secondary schools and colleges of three districts of Kashmir Division (Anantnag, Srinagar and Kulgam) by stratified random sampling method. Career Aspiration Scale of O’Brien, K. (2012) was used for the collection of data. For the statistical analysis; Percentage, ANOVA (one-way) and Tukey’s post hoc were used. The findings of the study revealed that 17.83% of respondents have shown low career aspirations, 58.33% falls in moderate level, 23.84% possess high career aspirations. Significant differences were found in career aspirations (achievement aspiration, educational aspiration and overall career aspirations) of adolescents with respect to their academic streams. However no significant difference was found in leadership aspiration of the respondents in terms of their academic streams.