Relationships Among Expectations

Expectations are related in that youth who hold higher expectations in one domain tend to hold higher expectations in other domains, when values on the response scales for each expectation were correlated (table 17).⁴⁴ For example, those who expect to be able to support themselves financially also tend to expect to live on their own in the future (r = .49, p < .001). Correlations are significant for all education- and independence-related outcomes. Correlation coefficients range from r = .06 (p < .01) for the relationship between expecting to get a driver's license and to graduate from high school with a regular diploma, to r = .59 (p < .001) for the relationship between expecting to attend a postsecondary school and to graduate from a 4-year college, as well as between expecting to complete a postsecondary vocational or technical program and to complete a 2-year college.

Table 17: Correlations among youth with disabilities' reported expectations for their future educational and independence attainment