“LPA allowed us to explore the premise that expectations across life domains may cluster in meaningful ways, such that there were distinct subgroups of adolescents whose members demonstrated similar future expectation patterns to one another across multiple domains and different patterns from members of other groups,” said Knapp. “We felt that considering future expectations across multiple life domains independently, without regard to interdependence among domains, could only tell part of the story of how adolescents develop expectations for their futures.”

The team’s second goal was to identify factors associated with adolescents’ odds of possessing particular constellations of future expectations. They considered demographic characteristics (e.g., adolescent gender, current grade level, parent education), as well as adolescents’ internal locus of control, sense of family obligation, and relational closeness with mothers and fathers. Their findings are summarized in the figure below.

Figure 1. Profiles of future aspirations of adolescents in Cambodia based upon a 2018 survey conducted in Siem Reap. Note: Profile membership prediction was evaluated using the high expectations profile as the reference group; membership prediction for the high expectations profile was evaluated in reference to the low expectations profile.

“One of the highlights from our findings is how adolescents’ self-determination and sense of control over making their own decisions may underscore their expectations for their futures,” Knapp said. “A strong internal locus of control may be an important characteristic of adolescents with higher future expectations in work, education, and service domains that could ultimately lead to social mobility in the long-term.”

Knapp also suggested that members of the professional/service focused group may aspire to help rebuild their country in the wake of the Khmer Rouge genocide that took place roughly 40 years ago.

The research team returned to Cambodia in 2019 to present their preliminary findings to a group of non-governmental organization (NGO) representatives, including representatives from the organization that sponsored the participating schools and helped to facilitate the research.

Reflecting on his experiences in Cambodia, Knapp said, “it taught me about the importance of working in partnership with key community stakeholders throughout the research process, from the study’s inception and development of study measures through analysis of the data, for increasing its relevance and usefulness to the population being studied.”

Ulziimaa Chimed-Ochir, doctoral candidate in human development and family studies at Penn State and Sothy Eng, assistant professor of family and consumer sciences at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, joined Kyler in Siem Reap to collect the data. Gregory Fosco, associate director of the Edna Bennett Pierce Prevention Research Center and professor of human development and family studies contributed measures to the survey and advice on the manuscript. Robert Roeser, Bennett Pierce Professor of Caring and Compassion and professor of human development and family studies, used his Fulbright experience in India to guide the research team in selecting measures appropriate for studying adolescents in the rapidly changing economic and cultural context in which the study took place. Hannah Apsley, Bennett Pierce Graduate Fellow in Caring and Compassion and graduate student in human development and family studies, contributed to the journal article’s development.

This work was supported by Penn State through funding from the Douglas Research Endowment and the Edward R. and Helen Skade Hintz Graduate Educational Enhancement Fellowship.