The primary objective of the largely exploratory study was an empirical examination of familial socialization practices and their influence on ambition (measured as education and occupational expectations) of black and white males and females. Existing generalizations about career expectations were extended by establishing comparisons on the basis of sex and race, and by adding indicators of family structure, parental socialization practices and sex-specific behavioral patterns. Twenty-nine hypotheses were tested to determine if parental socialization practices would vary by race and sex of respondents, as suggested by existing literature. The actual results differed markedly from those expected. Major findings were that social origin influenced the career plans of all males more than all females and that early marriage plans of black females were associated with high occupational expectations. There also appeared to be research implications for the development of a concept of sex roles. The data base, an unbiased subsample of a larger 1970 cross sectional youth study, consisted of questionnaire responses from 2170 black and white male and female seniors from Louisiana public and private high schools. Appendices include the questionnaire and a comparison of data sets. (SB)