ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on adolescence and early adulthood in the United States, laid the groundwork for subsequent elaborations of the status attainment model which have much enriched our conceptualization and understanding of the social psychology of achievement. Attainment researchers initially focused on educational attainment and occupational prestige early in the career as indicators of socio-economic status outcomes, and to a lesser extent, income. Social scientists have studied a wide array of achievement-related attitudes and motivations, diverse attainment outcomes, socialization processes, and subgroup differences. Educational sociologists focus on school-related determinants (such as tracking, ability grouping and external rewards) of intrinsic motivation and effort in school, which influence academic achievement and educational attainment. Cross-national studies have alerted researchers to structural divergences in processes of achievement-relevant socialization and allocation. Finally, investigators have extended the research tradition to examine the social psychological dynamics of achievement throughout the life course.
