Table 506.10.

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.)