Balancing Aspiration and Obligation: Gendered Cultural Scripts and Adolescents’ Educational Pathways

Navigating sources of support and expectations are central to adolescents’ transition to adulthood. For upwardly mobile families in evolving collectivist cultures, expectations are shaped by cultural clashes, gendered norms, and filial piety. Based on focus groups with 40 adolescents (ages 14 to 18; 50% female), this study examined how youth in an urban Sri Lankan setting negotiate diverging cultural pressures, parental expectations, and social comparisons. Adolescents negotiated competing cultural values by selectively complying with family demands, reframing obligations as purposeful, and balancing between personal interests and socially valued careers. Parents’ persistent comparisons and high expectations often left adolescents feeling that no level of success was sufficient. Girls described heightened constraints tied to gendered expectations of obedience and family reputation. These findings illustrate how adolescents in collectivist settings negotiate tensions between tradition and autonomy through strategies that balance family obligation and personal agency.