Fewer Rebels, Fewer Causes: A Profile of Today's College Freshmen. Monitoring the Future Occasional Paper 4.

The opinions of nearly 17,000 college-bound and noncollege-bound high school seniors concerning a wide range of issues of both personal and social significance were surveyed in 1979 at the end of the senior year. Developing successful personal relationships, particularly a good marriage and family life, ranked at the top of freshman goals in life, and satisfaciton and success in work were also central concerns. In large proportions they preferred marriage, wanted children, and seemed willing to accommodate the needs of those children. Students' ratings of very important aspects in a job and of the desirability of different work settings are considered. Highest ratings were assigned to jobs that are interesting and make use of a person's skills. The most preferred work settings are those that provide the greatest independence and involve the least external control. The majority of the high school student respondents were employed and most were making fairly good money. While the students had positive expectations for their own future, they were considerably more pessimistic about how things will go for the country and the world over the next five years. Specific problems they are worrying about are summarized. The national issue that has been of greatest concern to recent high school classes has been crime and violence, and an issue that historically has been of less worry, the energy shortage, has reached a level of comparable concern. Drug abuse, pollution, and economic problems rank next among student concerns. Slightly less often on the minds of seniors are the issues of possible nuclear conflict, race relations, hunger and poverty, and population growth. Their views on national defense and the military, politics and the system, and their ratings of institutions in society are also addressed. (SW)