The Relationship of Work Orientation to Family Situational and Other Variables

A study was conducted to determine the relationship of work orientation, as measured by a 45-statement instrument, to family background and socioeconomic condition, work history of the student, and participation in school-supervised work experience. The study used data collected as part of a longitudinal study of 1,063 high school students in 1989 for 5 schools in 3 locations: a comprehensive high school in a rural county in the South, an inner-city magnet school specializing in automotive trades in a large northeastern city, and three comprehensive suburban high schools adjacent to a major metropolitan area in the upper Midwest. Five work orientation factors were measured by the survey: cynicism about work, responsibility about work, materialistic motivation, job satisfaction, and honest attitude about work. Findings were as follows: (1) female students are less materialistic, more responsible, but less honest in their work than males; (2) work orientation varies more by geographic grouping than within groups at a particular location; (3) children whose parents are economically secure are less concerned with security; (4) authoritarian supervision is associated with cynicism; (5) academic students are more responsible in their work attitudes than general or vocational students; and (6) vocational students are more materialistic and more honest about work. The study suggested that nonschool socioeconomic factors accounted for most of the attitude differences among the students. (10 references) (KC)