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Digest of Education Statistics
2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 453. Percentage of 1972 high school seniors, 1992 high school seniors, and 2004 high school seniors who felt that certain life values were "very important," by sex: Selected years, 1972 through 2004
[Standard errors appear in parentheses]
Year and sex Being successful in work Finding steady work Having lots of money Being a leader in
the community
Helping others in
the community
Correcting inequal-
ities
Having children Having a happy family life Giving my children better op-
portunities
Living close to parents or relatives Moving from area Having strong friendships Having leisure time
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1972 seniors                                                    
                                                     
In 1972                                                    
Total 84.5 (0.35) 78.2 (0.39) 17.9 (0.36) 11.4 (0.29) (†) 27.1 (0.41) (†) 82.1 (0.36) 67.7 (0.44) 8.0 (0.25) 14.3 (0.33) 79.1 (0.37) (†)
Male 86.4 (0.47) 82.3 (0.52) 25.8 (0.58) 14.9 (0.47) (†) 23.0 (0.55) (†) 79.0 (0.55) 67.4 (0.62) 7.4 (0.34) 14.0 (0.46) 80.5 (0.52) (†)
Female 82.6 (0.51) 74.1 (0.58) 10.1 (0.38) 7.9 (0.34) (†) 31.2 (0.60) (†) 85.2 (0.47) 67.9 (0.61) 8.7 (0.37) 14.7 (0.47) 77.6 (0.53) (†)
                                                     
In 1974                                                    
Total 77.2 (0.40) 66.9 (0.44) 13.1 (0.31) 6.1 (0.21) (†) 16.6 (0.34) (†) 84.8 (0.34) 59.4 (0.45) 9.9 (0.28) 7.6 (0.25) 75.4 (0.40) 57.9 (0.46)
Male 80.3 (0.54) 74.4 (0.59) 17.6 (0.51) 8.2 (0.35) (†) 15.8 (0.47) (†) 82.7 (0.51) 58.8 (0.65) 8.0 (0.36) 7.9 (0.36) 76.2 (0.57) 60.6 (0.65)
Female 74.2 (0.58) 59.7 (0.64) 8.6 (0.36) 4.1 (0.25) (†) 17.3 (0.48) (†) 86.9 (0.44) 60.0 (0.63) 11.8 (0.42) 7.3 (0.34) 74.7 (0.56) 55.4 (0.65)
                                                     
In 1976                                                    
Total 74.5 (0.41) 70.4 (0.43) 13.0 (0.31) 6.2 (0.22) (†) 16.1 (0.34) (†) 85.1 (0.34) 57.9 (0.46) 9.3 (0.27) 6.4 (0.23) 74.3 (0.41) 62.6 (0.45)
Male 79.8 (0.55) 79.3 (0.55) 17.1 (0.50) 8.7 (0.36) (†) 15.6 (0.48) (†) 84.2 (0.50) 58.8 (0.65) 7.2 (0.34) 6.6 (0.33) 76.4 (0.57) 65.1 (0.64)
Female 69.3 (0.61) 61.6 (0.64) 9.0 (0.37) 3.8 (0.24) (†) 16.5 (0.48) (†) 85.9 (0.46) 57.1 (0.64) 11.4 (0.42) 6.3 (0.32) 72.3 (0.58) 60.0 (0.64)
                                                     
1992 seniors                                                    
                                                     
In 1992                                                    
Total 88.8 (0.44) 88.5 (0.41) 37.1 (0.63) (†) 33.8 (0.63) 20.2 (0.55) 44.6 (0.65) 79.0 (0.57) 76.0 (0.56) 16.6 (0.46) 20.6 (0.55) 80.0 (0.52) 64.0 (0.64)
Male 88.3 (0.69) 87.8 (0.59) 45.6 (0.98) (†) 27.9 (0.93) 17.1 (0.72) 39.5 (0.96) 75.8 (0.89) 74.6 (0.83) 14.9 (0.60) 20.9 (0.83) 79.8 (0.70) 66.3 (0.95)
Female 89.3 (0.53) 89.2 (0.56) 28.6 (0.79) (†) 39.7 (0.86) 23.3 (0.83) 49.7 (0.87) 82.1 (0.72) 77.3 (0.75) 18.2 (0.68) 20.3 (0.71) 80.3 (0.77) 61.7 (0.84)
                                                     
In 1994                                                    
Total 89.7 (0.38) 89.7 (0.40) 36.9 (0.63) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 91.3 (0.34) (†) (†) 86.2 (0.44) (†)
Male 89.6 (0.55) 89.1 (0.61) 41.3 (0.94) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 91.1 (0.52) (†) (†) 87.2 (0.58) (†)
Female 89.7 (0.52) 90.3 (0.52) 32.5 (0.86) (†) (†) (†) (†) (†) 91.5 (0.43) (†) (†) 85.1 (0.65) (†)
                                                     
2004 seniors                                                    
                                                     
In 2004                                                    
                                                     
Total 91.3 (0.33) 87.3 (0.40) 35.1 (0.58) (†) 41.7 (0.57) 19.7 (0.46) 49.3 (0.55) 81.0 (0.46) 82.5 (0.45) 24.5 (0.50) 18.3 (0.45) 85.5 (0.41) 69.0 (0.55)
Male 89.7 (0.49) 85.6 (0.55) 42.7 (0.80) (†) 35.2 (0.77) 18.1 (0.60) 45.4 (0.75) 80.1 (0.63) 82.1 (0.64) 22.3 (0.65) 18.6 (0.63) 84.9 (0.56) 70.2 (0.69)
Female 92.9 (0.40) 89.0 (0.49) 27.6 (0.69) (†) 48.1 (0.74) 21.2 (0.67) 53.2 (0.78) 81.9 (0.64) 82.9 (0.58) 26.6 (0.74) 17.9 (0.59) 86.1 (0.57) 67.8 (0.74)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972, "Base Year" (NLS:72), "Second Follow-up" (NLS:72/74), and "Third Follow-up" (NLS:72/76); National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, "Second Follow-up, Student Survey, 1992" (NELS:88/92) and "Third Follow-up, 1994" (NELS:88/94); and Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, "First Follow-up" (ELS:02/04). (This table was prepared October 2011.)

2012 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest