Expectations for the Future

NLTS2 has documented the perspectives of 15- through 19-year-olds regarding their future adult roles and their academic, occupational, and independence expectations.

• Most youth expect they will graduate from high school with a regular diploma. They are less confident they will attend a postsecondary school.
  
  
• The majority of youth with disabilities expect they will get a paid job, but they are less certain that these jobs will pay enough for them to be financially self-sufficient.
  
  
• Most youth think they "definitely" or "probably" will live independently in the future. Among youth who think they will not be able to live independently without supervision, half do not expect to be able to live away from home even with supervision.
  
  
• Expectations are related, in that youth who hold high expectations in one domain tend to hold high expectations in other domains.
  
  
• Youth tend to hold higher expectations for themselves than their parents hold for them. Despite this difference, parents' and youth's expectations are related to each other in that youth who hold higher expectations for their own futures also tend to have parents who hold higher expectations for them.