A longitudinal study of change in work values between ninth and twelfth grades as related to high school curriculum

The purpose of this study was to examine the change in work values which takes place during adolescence between the ninth and twelfth grades. The Occupational Values Inventory (OVI) was the instrument selected for use in the study. This instrument was previously developed as part of the longitudinal Vocational Development Study (VDS) project in the Department of Vocational Education at the Pennsylvania State University. The unique features of the OVI is that it is an ipsative instrument with a forced choice format containing work value statements with a seventh grade reading level. The major hypothesis of the study was that important changes do occur between ninth and twelfth grades and that these changes differ depending on the students' high school curriculum. The sample for the study were 659 high school students who were seniors in the Spring of 1972 and who had taken the OVI 3 yr previously when they were in ninth grade. The results of the study indicate that five of the seven OVI values did change over the 3-yr period and at least some of this change appeared to be related to the students high school curriculum. Other important findings observed were: (1) the “Salary” value experienced the greatest increase; (2) value intensity changed so that strong values grew stronger and weak values weaker; (3) the Home Economics curriculum which is totally female experienced almost no change in work values while all other curriculums change on at least three values.