Exploring the Changing Meaning of Work for American High School Seniors From 1976 to 2005

Using data from the Monitoring the Future study, this paper presents historical trends in U.S. high school seniors' work values across 30 years (1976 to 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...