1 / 23

Reciprocal Influences of Education on Values Concerning Family, Careers, and Society

This research paper examines the reciprocal influences between higher education and values related to family, careers, and society. It explores the causal relationships and the impact of college major choices on values, as well as the influence of values on college major selection. The study analyzes data from high school seniors in the United States to uncover the connections between education and personal values.

rdesjardins
Download Presentation

Reciprocal Influences of Education on Values Concerning Family, Careers, and Society

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Reciprocal Influences of Education on Values Concerning Family, Careers and SocietyMiles KimballColter MitchellArland ThorntonLinda Young-DeMarcoUniversity of Michigan All authors contributed substantially to this paper, and names are listed alphabetically to reflect the substantial contribution of each. Paper available at http://paa2006.princeton.edu/download.aspx?submissionId=60182

  2. Higher education is associated with… • Individual achievement • Marriage and intergenerational relationships • Divorce, cohabitation, and childbearing • Careers, fulfillment, and community service

  3. Focus of Research • Causal Relationships • College Major Values

  4. Focus of Research • Causal Relationships • College Major Values

  5. Focus of Research • Reciprocal Causal Relationships • College Major Values

  6. Theory • Three Streams of Thought: • Science • Developmentalism • Postmodernism

  7. Science • Alternative authority structure • Alternative view of life and purpose

  8. Developmentalism • Narrative of progress: • Individual over family • Materialism • Equality and Freedom

  9. Postmodernism • Rejection of absolute or universal standards • Epistemological doubt

  10. College Major

  11. Two Fundamental Hypotheses • Hypotheses 1: College major will influence values concerning family, careers, and society • Hypothesis 2: Values will influence the choice of college major

  12. College Major

  13. Monitoring the Future • High school seniors in the United States • The baseline interview takes place during senior year (Time 0) • Time 1 is one or two years after high school • Time 3 is five or six years after high school

  14. How Important Is… (4pt scale) • Family • Having a good marriage and family life • Being able to give my children better opportunities than I've had • Living close to parents and relatives • Career • Being successful in my line of work • Having lots of money • Being able to find steady work • Society • Working to correct social and economic inequalities • Making a contribution to society • Finding purpose and meaning in my life

  15. College Major Categories • Natural Science • Social Science • Humanities • Other/Undecided • No College • “Trades” (clerical, vocational/technical, business, education, and engineering)

  16. Controls • Year of initial survey (1976-1995) • Region • Gender • Parental education • Political preferences and beliefs • Religion

  17. Analyses • College Major Values

  18. Figure 1Measurement and Structural Effects Model of Personal Values

  19. Table 3Predicting Time 3 Attitude from Time 1 Attitude and College Major at Time 1 LISREL Models (Z – ratios in parentheses) N=4173

  20. Analyses • Values College Major • College major stability • Choosing a new college major

  21. Table 4 Predicting the Stability of Time1 College Majors Through Time3 for the Time1 Attitude (Z-Ratios in Parentheses) N=4173

  22. Table 5Multinomial Logistic Regressions Predicting the Time3 College Major from the Time1 Attitude for Individuals in College at Time1 Who Indicated a Change in College Major by Time3(Trades is the Omitted Category) (Z-ratios in Parentheses) (N=888)

  23. Summary and Conclusions • College major changes values • Values affect college major choice • Strong causal nexus between values and major life decisions

More Related