Youth Attitudes on Family, Work, and Community Service: Implications for Welfare Reform. New Federalism: Issues and Options for States, Series A, No. A-47. Assessing the New Federalism: An Urban Institute Program To Assess Changing Social Policies.

Urban Institute, 2100 M Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20037. Tel: 202-261-5687; Fax: 202-429-0687; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.uipress.org.

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David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Los Altos, CA.
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago, IL.
Mott (C.S.) Foundation, Flint, MI.
McKnight Foundation, Minneapolis, MN.
Commonwealth Fund, New York, NY.
Weingart Foundation, Los Angeles, CA.
Fund for New Jersey, East Orange.
Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, Milwaukee, WI.
Joyce Foundation, Chicago, IL.
Rockefeller Foundation, New York, NY.
Annie E. Casey Foundation, Baltimore, MD.
Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, MI.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Princeton, NJ.
Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Menlo Park, CA.
Ford Foundation, New York, NY.

Child Rearing; Citizen Participation; Community Leaders; Elementary Secondary Education; Employment; Family Structure; Marriage; Racial Differences; Student Attitudes; Welfare Reform

This brief presents trends in youth attitudes in three areas relevant to welfare reform: family formation and parenting, work and work preparation, and community service. The data in this study come from the 1985-99 Monitoring the Future survey, a nationally representative annual survey of high school seniors that monitors changes in attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. Among high school seniors, the general desirability of a good marriage remained strong between 1985 and 1999 whereas the acceptability of cohabitation increased steadily. There was increasing appreciation for the importance of fatherhood and increasing agreement that maternal employment does not hurt preschoolers. Females were less likely than males, and blacks less likely than whites, to believe that maternal employment harms preschoolers. Black students were significantly more likely to: espouse the importance of success in work; acknowledge the centrality of work in their lives; identify good grades as important to school status; accept employment for mothers of young children; and appreciate the importance of fatherhood. The study showed that youth are becoming more community-conscious. Community leadership was more likely to be an important personal goal among black students. More black than white students questioned marriage as a way of life, though they were equally likely to value a good marriage and family life. (SM)

2001

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