University Students: A Change in Expectations and Aspirations Over the Decade

Author(s): Mary C. Regan and Helen Elizabeth Roland

Reviewed work(s):
Source: Sociology of Education, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct., 1982), pp. 223-228
Published by: American Sociological Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2112674 .
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UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A CHANGE IN EXPECTATIONS AND

ASPIRATIONS OVER THE DECADE
MARY C. REGAN
HELEN ELIZABETH ROLAND
University of California, Davis

Sociology of Education 1982, Vol. 55 (October):223-228

This longitudinal study examines patterns of change in life goal aspirations and educational
expectations of 2, 786 women and men graduating from a major research university between the
years 1968 and 1979. To ascertain specific patterns of change, the relationships among each
goal, sex and decade were explored using log-linear contingency table analysis. Findings
indicate that life goal aspirations and educational expectations have changed over the decade
of the 1970s. Women are now aspiring to combinations offamily and career. Though men do
show currents of interest in family, their movement away from career is concomitant with an
increased involvement in leisure pursuits. These trends suggest a conflict between
marriage/family and career goals for women and men.

During the past decade, dramatic changes

have occurredin the values surroundingwork,
life and leisure. These changes include the
questioningof the institutionalizeddivision of
labor between the sexes (Mason, Czajka and
Arbor, 1976; Bielby, 1978; Almquist, Angrist
and Mickelsen, 1980), the growing legitimacy
of women's right to work in high commitment
careers (Epstein, 1980), and the abandonment
of the view that men necessarily find work a
majorsource of life satisfaction(Van Maanen,
1977;Yankelovich, 1981).
A university education provides opportunities for students to gain requisite knowledge
and attitudinaland behavior preparation(i.e.,
anticipatory socialization) for entrance into
professional occupations. Thus, measures of
the importanceof life aspirations for graduating seniors indicate the strength of their life
priorities and commitments, and may predict
life-long allegiances. Undergraduates' approach to their university experience is indicative of the statuses to which they aspire, and
achievement of educational goals and occupational aspirations reflect anticipatory so-

cialization (Merton, 1957). Consequently, an

assessmentand comparisonof femaleand male
students' life goals, educational expectations
and occupationalplans over the decade of the
1970s should provide a solid indicationof future career and family allegiances, and should
thus indicate the likely degree of institutional
conflict between family and work.
This study focuses on university senior
women and men at their first step towardproOur thanksto two anonymousreviewersfor their
constructivecomments. Addresscorrespondenceto
the authorsat the Departmentof AppliedBehavioral
Sciences, Universityof California,Davis, California
95616

fessional careers. Utilizing baseline data from

1970,we examinedhow educationalgoals, occupational and life aspirations of university
seniors have changed over the last decade. In
particular, we investigated how changes in
women's attitudesaboutfamily, careerand leisure compareover time with changes in men's
attitudes.
DATA SOURCE

These data were collected as partof a large,

studyof patternsof stability
on-goinglongitudinal
and change of young adults over a period of
two decades. The study environment is the
University of California, Davis, a large,
highly-selective public research university.
The baseline sample includes students who
entered as freshmen and graduatedin 19681970(N = 1,699).The second sampleconsists
of studentswho entered as freshmenand graduated in 1979 (N = 1,087).
Students'life goals were assessed using the
following item from the Cornell Values Study
(Goldsen, Rosenberg,Williams,and Suchman,
1960):"Which things or activities in your life
do you expect will give you the most satisfaction? Please select the most importantto you
and the next most important."The six possible
response choices were as follows: career or
occupation;family relationships;leisure time,
recreationalactivities; religious beliefs or activities; participation in community affairs;
and participationin activities directed toward
nationalor internationalbetterment.
Studentswere also asked, "Whatis the most
importantand second most important(goal)for
you to attain duringyour college career." The
six possible response choices were as follows:
provideknowledgeand techniquesdirectlyapplicable to your career; develop the ability to

223

224

REGAN AND ROLAND

get along with different people; preparefor a

happy marriageand family life; develop social
poise; develop a sense of responsibilityto participate in community and public affairs; and
provide a basic general education and appreciation of ideas.
The first three response options in each of
the above lists were of primaryinterest. For
each of those response options a value of two
was assigned if the goal was ranked most important, and one was assigned if the goal was
ranked second most important.Zero was assigned if the goal was of lower importance.
ANALYSIS

The data in Tables 1 and 2 are in the form of

a product-multinomial sampling model in
which the fixed marginaltotals correspondto
explanatory(independent)variablesof sex and
decade, and in which the importanceof each
life is a polytomous response variable. The
data thus reduce to six three-way tables, one
for each of the selected life/educationalgoals.
Each log-linearmodel was constrainedto fit
the two-way marginalsex by decade (Feinberg,
1980; Duncan and Duncan, 1978). All models
were tested in order to find the model that fit
the data with the most parsimony-the model
which could not be simplifiedwithout significantly increasingthe likelihoodration(G2)and
could not be significantlyimproved upon by
fitting additionalmarginals(Goodman, 1972).
In order to examine specific patterns of
change, the relationships among each goal
score, sex and decade of graduationwere explored using log-linear contingency table
analysis (Goodman, 1978; Davis, 1975; Fein-

berg, 1980).Statistics for all models tested are

presented in Table 3. The model specifying
independent effects of sex and decade provided the most parsimoniousexplanationfor
the distributionof choices on the goal variable,
leisure and recreational activities. The saturated model was required to explain the observed response choices for the other two life
goals and all three educational goals. Thus,
changes in the importanceof these goals over
the decade can only be viewed within sex,
since these changes are different for the two
sexes. Havingascertainedthe model most parsimoniouswith the data, the expected frequencies generatedunder that model were used to
calculate the conditional ratios (Knoke and
Burke, 1980).
FINDINGS

Three spheres, career, family and leisure,

constitutehighlysalientlife values for men and
women. Value shifts over the decade are evident for each of these spheres.
The importanceattributedto careeror occupation as a life goal underwenta majortransition over the decade, but this transition differed for the two sexes. The proportionof men
who saw career as providingprimarysatisfaction in life actuallydeclinedover the decade. A
thirdfewer men (1980:1970.699) saw career as
the most importantlife goal. For women the
change was much more dramatic. Twice as
many women in 1980 as in 1970 (1980:1970
2.032) indicated that their careers would constitute the most important life satisfaction.
Furthermore, comparing women and men
within each decade highlights the changing

Table 1. Student's Ratings of Life Goals by Sex and Decade.* Percentage of Students Rating Each Goal as
Most Important, Second Most Important or Low Importance
Percentages

Life Goals

Year

Sex

Career or occupation

1970
1980
1970
1980
1970
1980
1970
1980
1970
1980
1970
1980

Male

Family relationships

Leisure time, recreational

activities

Female
Male
Female
Male
Female

Females 1970 (N = 560)

Males 1980 (N = 527)
Females 1980 (N = 500)
t Not ranked as most or second most important life goal.

* Males 1970 (N = 833)

Most
Important

2nd
Most
Important

Lowt
Importance

28
20
12
24
44
42
72
53
9
17
2
6

39
39
42
39
25
28
14
29
15
19
14
16

33
41
46
37
31
30
14
18
76
63
84
78

UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A CHANGE

225

Table 2. Student's Ratings of Education Goals by Sex and Decade.* Percentage of Students Rating Each
Goal as Most Important, Second Most Important or Low Importance
Percentages

Educational Goals

Year

Sex

Develop the ability to get along with different 1970

Male
types of people
1980
1970
Female
1980
Prepare for a happy marriage and family life 1970
Male
1980
1970
Female
1980
Provide knowledge and techniques directly
1970
Male
applicable to career
1980
1970
Female
1980
* Males 1970 (N = 833)
Females 1970 (N = 866)
Males 1980 (N = 527)
Females 1980 (N = 560)
t Not ranked as most or second most important educational goal.

careergoals between sexes over the decade. In

1970, only two-fifths as many women as men
(W:M .421) indicated career would be prime
in their lives, but in 1980, a higherproportion
of women than men (W:M 1.224) considered
career to be the major source of future satisfaction in their lives.
The importanceof familyrelationshipsto life
satisfaction has also undergone major shifts
over the decade. The patternof changefor this
goal is also more dramaticfor women than for
men. Fewer women in 1980than in 1970looked
to family relationshipsas their primarysource
of futuresatisfaction(1980:1970.746), whereas
for men there was no change over the decade
(1980:1970.963). However, the women in 1980
did express strong interest in family relationships. Twice as manywomen in 1980as in 1970
indicatedfamily relationshipsto be their second most important goal (1980:1970 2.097).
Looking at the importanceof family between
the sexes within each decade emphasizes the
trend in sex differences.
Comparingthe men and women in 1970,
women were much more adamant than men
about the prime importanceof family relationships (W:M 1.619). By 1980, however the gap
between men and women had dwindled substantially (W:M 1.415), and men and women
were almost identicalin their valuationof family as their second most important life goal
(W:M 1.031). The data do suggest a possible
trend toward an "equal partners"attitude.
The increased importanceof recreationand
the enjoymentof leisure time also has implications for priorities of quality of life experiences. Twice as many studentsof both sexes in
1980as in 1970indicatedthat leisure time and

Most
Important

2nd
Most
Important

Lowt
Importance

17
17
20
16
10
2
18
1
31
43
21
40

19
28
26
29
13
4
16
5
26
22
19
26

64
55
54
55
78
94
65
94
43
34
60
34

recreational activities would constitute their

most importantlife goal (1980:19702.213). This
source of life satisfactionwas more important
for men thanfor women in both decades (W:M
.312).
While the developmentof a more egalitarian
life valuationof family is of majorsignificance,
an even more dramaticchange has taken place
in the role of college as preparingfor happy
marriageand family.
Preparingfor a happy marriageand family
life as an educational expectation was valued

differentlyby men and women in 1970.Twice

the proportionof women as men indicatedthis
to be their most importantgoal in 1970(W:M
1.936) and one-third more women than men
indicatedmarriageto be their second most importanteducationalgoal (W:M 1.295). Change
over the decade for both women and men is
highlightedby the fact that almost six times as
many women in 1970as in 1980indicatedthat
marriageand family constituted their first or
second most importanteducationalgoal, and
three and a half times as many men in 1970as
men in 1980 considered marriageamong their
top two goals. In 1980,men and women were in
total agreementin selecting marriageand family as of low importanceas an educationalgoal
(W:M 1.002). Though marriagedid have educationalmeaningfor men and moreparticularly
for women in 1970, by 1980this goal was seen
as academicallyirrelevantor of low priorityby
94 percent of both sexes.
Concomitantwith the sharp decline in the
importanceof marriageas an educationalgoal
was the dramaticincrease in the educational
expectation achieving knowledge and techniques directly related to careers. Over the

REGAN AND ROLAND

226

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UNIVERSITY STUDENTS: A CHANGE

227

decade, women experienced a two-fold in- Table 4. Percentage of Students' Vocational Choice
by Sex and Decade*
crease in prime educational commitment to
obtaining knowledge and techniques directly
Percentages
applicable to careers (1980:1970 1.942), while
Vocational Choice
men experienced an increase of almost 40 perOther
Professional
cent (1980:1970 1.397). In addition, by 1980 Year
Plans
Plans
Sex
most
as
"second
goal
this
ranked
more women
41
59
1970
Male
important" (1980:1970 1.350). Thus consistent
52
48
with the change in life goals, the 1980 women 1980
84
16
Female
1970
showed a substantially higher expectation than 1980
56
44
1970 women for academic preparation*
=
=
866)
1970
(N
Females
833)
1970
(N
Males
preparation which would support aspirations
Females 1980 (N = 560)
Males 1980 (N = 527)
about their own professional futures. Men,
rather inconsistent with shifting life goals, also
became more pragmatic in their approach to
COMPARISONS WITH THE 1952-1974
undergraduate education.
CORNELL STUDY
Developing ability to get along with different
types of people as an educational expectation
To obtain a more comprehensive view of
was seen as most important more frequently by value shifts over time and to provide additional
women than by men in 1970 (W:M 1.202). validation of these findings, data from the
Conversely, in 1980 this goal was more fre- study are presented alongside comparable data
quently listed as most important by men than from Cornell in 1952 and 1974 (Goldsen et al.,
by women (W:M .952). The change was mainly 1960; Hoge, 1976; Farley, Brewer and Fine,
due to a decrease over the decade in the fre- 1977).
Table 5 provides a 30-year perspective in
quency of women viewing this goal as most
changes in "most important" life goals for men
important.
To ascertain if women are truly aspiring to and women undergraduates. The overall trend
careers that demand a high level of profes- from 1952 to 1980 indicates men have actually
sional commitment, seniors were asked to decreased 33 percent in their expressed comspecify their long range vocational plans. Re- mitment to career or occupation while women
sponses were dichotomized into professional have increased 300 percent over the same peplans or others. Professional plans reflected riod. In fact, in 1980 more women than men
high-status occupations, generally requiring actually saw careers as offering primary life
both post-baccalaurate training and a commit- satisfaction. The major drop in men's commitment to career or occupation came after 1974.
ment to the solidarity of the profession.*
Table 4 presents the percentages of men and Over the long haul, women experienced a drop
to family
commitment
women in each decade espousing professional in primary
and other vocational goals. Log linear tech- relationships-a drop from 87 percent to 53
niques were applied also to these data. Again, percent in 30 years. A similar pattern, a drop
only the saturated model fit the data. In the from 60 percent to 43 percent, was evident for
1970's women were highly over-represented men. While men's commitment to both career
among seniors aspiring to non-professional oc- and family declined, their commitment to leisure and recreational activities increased more
cupations (2.042) and men were overrepresented among those seeking professional than 300 percent over the thirty-year span.
careers. Only one-fourth as many women as Consequently, the decline in men's commitmen were committed to professional careers in ment to their careers does not necessarily
1970 (.274). By 1980, women were almost as mean more interest and involvement directly in
likely as men (.928) to report professional aspi- family and family related responsibilities. Inrations. Congruent with the trends in life and stead, men are increasingly committed to eneducational goals, women graduating in 1980 joying leisure time.
were almost three times more likely than
women in 1970 to expect employment in high
SUMMARY AND DISCUSSION
prestige professional occupations (2.706).
This study documents emerging patterns of
values and aspirations surrounding work, life
and leisure. Long-range trends from 1952 to
1980 indicate that for university-educated
women family relations are becoming rela* Thus, while aspiring doctors, professors and en- tively less important and career more important. In contrast, for men career and family
gineers were classified as having professional plans,
nurses and public school teachers were not.
became less salient and leisure more central.

228

REGAN AND ROLAND

Table 5. Percentage Ranking Each Life Goal as Most Important Across Three Decades by Sex of Respondents and Institution
Percentages
Women at Cornell and UCD

Men at Cornell and UCD

Life Goals
Career or occupation
Family relationships
Leisure time, recreational activities
Religious beliefs or activities
Participation in community
affairs
Participation in activities directed toward national and
international betterment
Literature, art or music
Total
(Sample size)

*C'52

D'70

C'74

D'80

C'52

D'70

C'74

D'80

31
60

28
44

29
48

20
43

6
87

12
72

23
57

24
54

4
3

9
4

11
5

17
10

3
1

2
4

9
6

6
10

7
7

4
6

3
7

100
(632)

100
(833)

100
(647)

100
(527)

100
(237)

99
(866)

3
-

99
(330)

4
99
(560)

* C = Data were collected on Cornell undergraudates.

Data were collected on University of California, Davis undergraduates.

The in-depthanalyses of long-rangelife goals

and short-rangeeducationalexpectations presented in this paper show that in the 1980s, as
contrastedto earlierperiods,youngwomen are
aspiringto combinationsof family and career.
They consider their undergraduateeducation
as a first step to a high prestige professional
career. When today's undergraduatewomen
choose professionalcareersand also have high
expectationsfor satisfactionsfromfamily,they
are selecting a lifestyle in which career demands may conflict with family demands.
The data presented here suggest that this
conflict may be complicatedfurtherby men's
dramaticallyincreasing desire for leisure fulfillment. If women's future aspirations are
based on the expectation that men will play a
more active role withinthe family, men's trend
toward leisure ratherthan family portends an
increase in the strains and stresses of professional couples.
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