Are ambitious children more resilient?

Can career aspirations at age seven provide valuable insights into children's emotional state and their ability to overcome difficult family circumstances? A Centre for Longitudinal Studies working paper examines the role of young children's career aspirations in the association between family poverty and emotional and behavioral problems. 

Using data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study, researchers tested a path model linking family poverty and maternal qualification to children's emotional and behavioral problems via their career aspirations. The findings suggest that career aspirations are related to maternal qualifications but not family poverty or behavioral problems. Family poverty is significantly associated with behavioral problems, but is moderated by career aspirations. More ambitious children from poor backgrounds are less likely to have behavior problems than equally disadvantaged seven-year-olds who have lower career aspirations.