Changes in Youth

For some decades in the United States, there have been annual national surveys of high school seniors. One of them attempts to measure a set of attitudes and aspirations of the 12th grader respondents. This is, of course, a moment in life that precedes much change in the formation of one’s character. And, the surveys are, admittedly, a snapshot of a group of young people a specific moment in time. The fact that the measurements are consistent over years and are based on scientific samples of students make them useful to compare over time.

There are many repeated cross-sectional measurements that show little change over time. Every once in a while change is notable. The Monitoring the Future Survey asks whether the 12th grader agrees or disagrees with a statement that work will likely be a central part of their adult life. Between the mid-1970’s and the year 2000, there was a steady decline in the percentage agreeing that work would be a central part of their lives. Starting in 2000 through the seniors of 2020, there was a steady increase. Some of these students are now in college. So it appears that more and more look toward a career as a central feature of their adult life.

Other questions asked about what characteristics they thought were important in a job. One option was a job that “gave you an opportunity to be directly helpful to others.” Similar to the pattern on desired centrality of work, the time trends showed declining perceived importance of a job that directly helped others from the mid-1970’s to the year 2000. Since that time, however, that attribute of a job is judged by more 12th graders as important. Later cohorts value helping others more than earlier cohorts.

Another job attribute for the which the survey asked seniors to judge its importance was whether it was “worthwhile to society.” Again, falling percentages viewing that as important to around 2000, then an increase. Later cohorts of seniors value jobs that are worthwhile to society more than earlier cohorts.

Of course, these are rather simple questions about very complicated life values. They, as with all surveys, are blunt instruments. However, consistent measures over time deserve attention. These time trends raise both questions of the causes of the increasing orientation to helping society and their effects on the behavior of successive cohorts of young persons as they age.

With regard to the causes of these changes, there are too many possibilities to sort out. These 12th graders in recent years have seen many different events, from foreign wars, to financial crises, to terrorist events, to political polarization. In addition, there is well-documented increased prevalence of mental health concerns in these younger cohorts. But these trends are also consistent with other studies showing that younger generations are more focused on climate change impacts, racial/ethnic equality, and supporting a larger role of government in the societal wellbeing.

The surprise, perhaps, is that, despite the many negative forces affecting these later cohorts of students, they exude an external, not internal focus for their aspirations. There seems to be increasing attention to using their working lives to build a better society. It didn’t have to be so. The experiences of mental health challenges and negative societal events might have bred cohorts of complete ego-orientation. These survey data suggested otherwise, on the whole.

Turning to the effects of these changes — if the data are accurate, they suggest that the finest days are ahead for Georgetown, as a university that seeks to form “people for others” through research, education, and service activities. If the university is getting its fair share of incoming cohorts of students who share aspirations of helping others, our jobs will be enriched in manifold ways.