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Digest of Education Statistics
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Table 391. Percent of 1972 high school seniors, 1992 high school seniors, and 2002 high school sophomores who felt that certain life values were "very important," by sex: Selected years, 1972 to 2002

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                            |         Percent of 1972 seniors   |   Percent of  1992 seniors  |     Percent of 2002 sophomores
                            |___________________________________|_____________________________|
Life value                  |           |  1974 (2  |  1976 (4  |           |  1994 (2 years  |
                            |    1972   |years after|years after|    1992   |   after high    |
                            |           |high school|high school|           |    school)      |
                            |___________|___________|___________|___________|_________________|________________________________
                            |Male|Female|Male|Female|Male|Female|Male|Female|Total|Male|Female|    Total |     Male |    Female
____________________________|____|______|____|______|____|______|____|______|_____|____|______|__________|__________|__________
1                           |  2 |    3 |  4 |    5 |  6 |    7 |  8 |    9 |  10 | 11 |   12 |        13|        14|        15
____________________________|____|______|____|______|____|______|____|______|_____|____|______|__________|__________|__________
Being successful in work ...|86.5|  83.0|81.2|  74.9|80.3|  69.7|89.0|  89.6| 90.1|89.9|  90.3|86.3(0.34)|84.1(0.52)|88.5(0.44)
Finding steady work ........|82.3|  73.7|74.7|  59.9|79.3|  62.1|87.1|  88.6| 89.7|88.7|  90.7|84.3(0.36)|81.9(0.55)|86.7(0.47)
Having lots of money .......|26.0|   9.8|17.8|   9.1|17.7|   9.4|45.3|  29.4| 35.2|39.5|  30.9|42.1(0.49)|51.0(0.70)|33.3(0.65)
Being a leader in the       |    |      |    |      |    |      |    |      |     |    |      |          |          |
   community\1\ ............|14.9|   8.0| 8.5|   4.4| 9.2|   4.2|--- |  --- | --- |--- |  --- |36.2(0.47)|29.9(0.64)|42.6(0.68)
Correcting inequalities ....|22.5|  31.1|16.6|  18.2|16.2|  17.1|17.0|  23.6| --- |--- |  --- |19.3(0.39)|18.7(0.56)|20.0(0.55)
                            |    |      |    |      |    |      |    |      |     |    |      |          |          |
Having children ............|  --|  --- |--- |  --- |  --|  --- |39.0|  49.2| --- |--- |  --- |47.4(0.50)|45.1(0.70)|49.7(0.69)
Having a happy family life .|78.6|  85.7|83.1|  86.7|84.2|  86.4|--- |  --- | --- |--- |  --- |76.4(0.42)|73.4(0.63)|79.3(0.56)
Providing better opportu-   |    |      |    |      |    |      |    |      |     |    |      |          |          |
   nities for my children ..|66.6|  66.2|59.5|  61.6|59.8|  58.8|74.5|  76.5| 90.5|90.3|  90.8|80.3(0.40)|78.9(0.58)|81.6(0.53)
Living closer to parents    |    |      |    |      |    |      |    |      |     |    |      |          |          |
   or relatives ............| 6.8|   8.2| 8.3|  12.4| 7.7|  11.9|15.2|  18.7| --- |--- |  --- |29.7(0.45)|28.0(0.63)|31.3(0.64)
Moving from area ...........|14.3|  14.6| 8.3|   7.4| 6.7|   6.4|20.7|  20.1| --- |--- |  --- |21.3(0.41)|21.5(0.58)|21.1(0.56)
                            |    |      |    |      |    |      |    |      |     |    |      |          |          |
Having strong friendships ..|81.2|  78.7|76.5|  74.7|76.1|  72.1|79.8|  80.0| 87.6|88.1|  87.0|82.8(0.37)|79.3(0.58)|86.2(0.47)
Having leisure time ........|  --|  --- |60.9|  55.1|65.4|  60.1|65.3|  62.0| --- |--- |  --- |67.7(0.46)|68.4(0.66)|67.1(0.65)
____________________________|____|______|____|______|____|______|____|______|_____|____|______|__________|__________|__________

---Not available.
\1\In 2002 the question was "Importance of helping others in the community."

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);" The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88/92) and (NELS:88/94), "Second Follow-up, Student Survey, 1992" and "Third Follow-up, 1994;" and Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, "Base Year (ELS:02)." (This table was prepared May 2005.)