Abstract
Using data from the Monitoring the Future study, this article presents historical trends in U.S. high school seniors' work values across 30 years (1976-2005). Adolescents across three decades highly valued most aspects of work examined. Recent cohorts showed declines in the importance of work, values for job security, and various potential intrinsic rewards of work. After increasing until 1990, adolescents remained stable in their values for extrinsic and materialistic aspects of work until 2005. The value of work that allows for leisure time has steadily increased. Stable level differences in work values emerged for adolescents by gender, race, parents' education, and college aspirations. Findings have implications for understanding the changing meaning of work for the future workforce.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1110-1135 |
Number of pages | 26 |
Journal | Youth and Society |
Volume | 43 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2011 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Social Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Sociology and Political Science
- Social Sciences(all)