Relationship of education, age, sex, and citizenship to the aspirations of citrus harvesters

Abstract

The purpose of this study were to determine whether the aspirations of citrus harvesters are related to their educational level, age, sex or citizenship. Aspirations of citrus harvesters were divided into three main items: occupational aspiration to harvest fruit, material items, and children's education. Each predictor was correlated against each individual criterion. Nine individual criteria comprised the aspirations tested. The sample consisted of 220 subjects randomly selected from the citrus harvesters working during the months of January and February, 1976 in Hidalgo County, Texas. Subjects were obtained from the major citrus growing areas of Hidalgo county. A highly significant negative relationship was found to exist between education and the subjects' aspiration to pick fruit next year and the following five years. The same relationship was found for ownership of a home and male children's education. A significant relationship was also found for ownership of a car or truck and female children's education. Education was found to have a correlation with six out of the nine aspirations.