Academic Aspirations of 12th Grade Students in the United States: Place-Based Diminished Returns of Parental Education in Rural Areas

Gandom Assari, Shervin Assari, Hossein Zare · 2025 · Open Journal of Educational Research

Summary. Higher parental education increases adolescents' aspirations for advanced education, but this benefit is significantly weaker in rural areas than urban or suburban settings. Rural students experience diminished returns on their parents' educational advantages, facing a dual disadvantage of lower socioeconomic resources and reduced benefits from those resources. Policymakers must implement targeted interventions to equalize educational opportunities across geographic contexts.

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Assari, G., Assari, S., & Zare, H.. (2025). Academic Aspirations of 12th Grade Students in the United States: Place-Based Diminished Returns of Parental Education in Rural Areas. Open Journal of Educational Research. https://doi.org/10.31586/ojer.2025.6040

@article{assari-2025-academic-aspirations-12th-grade-students,
  title   = {Academic Aspirations of 12th Grade Students in the United States: Place-Based Diminished Returns of Parental Education in Rural Areas},
  author  = {Gandom Assari and Shervin Assari and Hossein Zare},
  journal = {Open Journal of Educational Research},
  year    = {2025},
  doi     = {10.31586/ojer.2025.6040},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.31586/ojer.2025.6040}
}

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TI  - Academic Aspirations of 12th Grade Students in the United States: Place-Based Diminished Returns of Parental Education in Rural Areas
AU  - Gandom Assari
AU  - Shervin Assari
AU  - Hossein Zare
JO  - Open Journal of Educational Research
PY  - 2025
DO  - 10.31586/ojer.2025.6040
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Details

DOI: 10.31586/ojer.2025.6040
Countries: United States
Regions: North America
Categories: education, rural-data-and-definitions, policy, general-innovation
Added: 2026-05-01