Higher education increases the likelihood of a healthy and successful life. This study investigated the association between relative deprivation and aspiration for college education in adolescents in Japan. The data of the 2016 survey of the Longitudinal Survey of Newborns in the twenty-first Century, a nationwide birth cohort study following infants born in Japan in 2001, was analyzed (the participants were 15 years old; n = 17,662). Their relative deprivation at 12 years of age, that is, the Yitzhaki index using the same municipality as the reference group, was derived from another national survey. Three-level multilevel logistic regression with random intercepts (level 1: individual; level 2: municipality; level 3: prefecture) was modeled to investigate the association between the Yitzhaki index and having an aspiration for college education, adjusting for gender, parents' educational attainment, absolute household income, perceived social support, and the size of the city of residence. Sixty-six percent of adolescents had an aspiration for a college education. A higher Yitzhaki index was significantly positively associated with having aspirations for college education after adjusting for all covariates (odds ratio: 1.18 per interquartile range-change scale; 95% confidence interval: 1.09, 1.28). The positive influence of relative deprivation was more substantial in adolescents with higher household income. The findings suggest that relative deprivation could motivate adolescents' educational aspirations, but it was more prominent among those with high income. Policies that support adolescents under poverty by converting their aspiration into higher educational achievement are required to break the cycle of poverty.

高等教育增加了健康和成功生活的可能性。这项研究调查了日本青少年相对剥夺与渴望大学教育之间的关系。分析了21世纪新生儿纵向调查2016年调查的数据，这项研究是针对2001年在日本出生的婴儿进行的全国性出生队列研究（参与者为15岁; n = 17,662）。他们在12岁时的相对贫困，即使用与参考组相同的城市的伊扎基（Yitzhaki）指数，来自另一项全国性调查。建立了三级带随机截距的多级Logistic回归模型（级别1：个人；级别2：市政；级别3：县），以调查Yitzhaki指数与有大学学历的愿望之间的关联，调整性别，父母的受教育程度，绝对家庭收入，可感知的社会支持以及居住城市的规模。百分之六十六的青少年有上大学的愿望。调整所有协变量后，较高的Yitzhaki指数与大学教育愿望显着正相关（优势比：每个四分位数范围变化量表1.18； 95％的置信区间：1.09、1.28）。相对剥夺的积极影响在家庭收入较高的青少年中更为明显。研究结果表明，相对剥夺可以激发青少年的教育愿望，但在高收入者中尤为突出。