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To cite this article: Harvey J. Krahn & Nancy L. Galambos (2014) Work values and
beliefs of Generation X and Generation Y, Journal of Youth Studies, 17:1, 92-112, DOI:
10.1080/13676261.2013.815701
Download by: [RMIT University Library] Date: 29 March 2016, At: 22:13
Journal of Youth Studies, 2014
Vol. 17, No. 1, 92112, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13676261.2013.815701
This study examined cohort differences and intraindividual change in the intrinsic
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and extrinsic work values and job entitlement beliefs of Canadian high school
seniors (classes of 1985 and 1996, representing Generation X and Generation
Y, respectively) surveyed at age 18 and again at age 25. The 1996 cohort placed
more value on extrinsic work rewards (at age 25) and reported stronger job
entitlement beliefs. Intrinsic work values increased in both cohorts during early
adulthood, whereas extrinsic work values increased only in the 1996 cohort. Job
entitlement beliefs decreased on average but less so in the 1996 cohort and in
women. Predictors of intraindividual change depended on the outcome but
included gender, academic experiences at age 18 (grades and post-secondary
aspirations), post-high school labour market (unemployment) and educational
experiences (obtaining a university degree), and adult statuses at age 25 (full-time
worker, parent).
Keywords: generation; attitudes; young adulthood
Introduction
Media and popularised social science accounts of how work values and beliefs of
young adults today differ from those of previous generations appear frequently,
despite a scarcity of well-constructed cohort-comparison studies (Twenge et al.
2010). Such conclusions about social change are often based on cross-sectional
studies in which differences in values and beliefs across age groups are taken as
evidence of cohort or generational differences. However, cross-sectional designs
confound cohort or generational effects with age differences (Schaie and Caskie
2005), an important concern, given evidence of considerable intraindividual change
in work values as teenagers become young adults, acquire further education, gain
labour market experience, and move into adult roles (Johnson 2001a, 2001b; Johnson
and Elder 2002).
Time-lag studies comparing samples of young people of the same age surveyed in
different decades are an improvement for drawing conclusions about cohort
differences, but better still is the use of a longitudinal sequential design involving
two or more longitudinal studies with two or more cohorts (Schaie and Caskie 2005).
The current study uses a longitudinal sequence design to compare work values and
beliefs at ages 18 and 25 in two cohorts of young Canadians who completed high
school a decade apart. The graduating class of 1985 can be seen as an exemplar of
Generation X as described by many in the media and popular social science (e.g.
Coupland 1991; Halstead 1999), while the class of 1996 could perhaps be
characterised as representative of Generation Y, a cohort with supposedly different
attitudes and behaviours according to similar commentators (e.g. Howe and Strauss
2000; Montana and Lenaghan 1999; Schneider and Stevenson 1999).
Longitudinal research has demonstrated that young peoples work values, the
perceived importance of various job characteristics, help shape their career choices
and outcomes (Johnson and Mortimer 2011), and also influence later marital status
and parenthood (Johnson 2005). The same body of research reveals that work values
change substantially as young people complete their educations (Johnson and Elder
2002), experience the labour market (Johnson and Monserud 2010), and take on new
roles (Jin and Rounds 2012). Previous research has shown that intrinsic and extrinsic
work values (preferences for interesting work with opportunities to use skills and
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make decisions, or for material rewards like pay, benefits and job security,
respectively) tend to have dissimilar origins and outcomes (Johnson et al. 2007;
Johnson and Mortimer 2011). Hence, in this comparison of two cohorts of youth, we
also focus on both intrinsic and extrinsic work values. We also examine job
entitlement (i.e. the belief that hard work in school entitles one to a good job), a
subject that has received very little research attention despite many media and
popular social science accounts of how young people today apparently expect and
demand more than did their counterparts in the past.
More difficult labour market conditions and rising levels of post-secondary
enrollment figure prominently in a number of generational change narratives (e.g.
Arnett 2000; Coupland 1991). Hence, we focus explicitly on young peoples labour
market and post-secondary experiences in our analyses of how work values change
from ages 18 to 25 and how they differ across cohorts. Previous research has
highlighted how gender, family socioeconomic status (SES), high school perfor-
mance, and transitions into adult roles (e.g. marriage, parenthood) shape the work
values of adolescents, so we also incorporate these factors into our analyses. Thus,
our two-cohort study is shaped by a life course perspective (Elder 1994; Mayer 2009)
that takes into account the ongoing interplay among social origins, social and
cultural contexts, and individual experiences and agency during the early adult years.
When modelling the effects of labour market experiences and educational attainment
on change in work values and beliefs, we also rely on value reinforcement theory
(Johnson 2001a), which predicts that people bring their values into alignment with
their current (or anticipated) work rewards.
Generation X
Major recessions at the beginning of both the 1980s and the 1990s led to several
extended periods of very high youth unemployment in Canada, the US, and Western
Europe. Both decades were characterised by industrial restructuring, organisational
downsizing, contractions in government hiring, and rising rates of part-time and
temporary employment, all of which particularly affected youth. Despite their
growing participation in post-secondary education, transitions from school to work
for the post-baby boomers became more complex, prolonged, and difficult (Andres
and Wyn 2010; Krahn, Howard, and Galambos 2012; Furlong and Cartmel 1997;
Marquardt 1998; Shanahan 2000). Some media commentators called the 1966 to
1980 birth cohorts the lost or scarred generation. The label that stuck Generation
X came from a best-selling novel (Coupland 1991).
The mismatch between high career expectations (based on their parents success)
and limited labour market opportunities for Generation X could certainly have led to
lower work commitment and to more value placed on extrinsic rather than intrinsic
work rewards (the scenario painted by Coupland and most media accounts).
Barnard, Cosgrave, and Welsh (1998, 199) reached a different conclusion, claiming
that this generation is not at all disaffected, even though its members are less
committed to traditional institutions. In fact, . . . what they want most from work [is]
challenge, collaboration, task variety, and greater impact. In short, according to this
popularised social science account, members of Generation X appear to be primarily
intrinsically, not extrinsically, motivated. A recent meta-analysis of longitudinal
studies of intraindividual change in work values does not directly address this issue,
but concludes that, compared to Baby Boomers, Generation X exhibited lower rank-
order stability in work values during early adulthood (Jin and Rounds 2012).
Generation Y
Youth unemployment rates were not as high in the late 1990s and early 2000s as they
were in the two previous decades, but industrial restructuring and corporate and
government downsizing continued, as did growth in part-time and temporary, often
low-skill jobs (Kalleberg 2009; Vosko 2005). Even more than the Generation X
Journal of Youth Studies 95
cohorts, birth cohorts of the 1980s and 1990s bought into the belief that post-
secondary education was required for labour market success (Reynolds et al. 2006;
Schneider and Stevenson 1999). Hence, post-secondary enrollments continued to rise
in both the US and Canada (Davies and Guppy 2006; Goldrick-Rab 2006), even
though opportunities for the rewarding jobs young people hoped to obtain did not
expand accordingly.
Some observers were concerned about the long-term societal effects of large
numbers of youth whose high ambitions were not aligned with reality and who
frequently chose educational pathways unlikely to lead to satisfactory adult
employment (Reynolds et al. 2006; Schneider and Stevenson 1999). While a recent
US study (Reynolds and Baird 2010) suggests that unmet post-secondary educa-
tional aspirations may not have the negative mental health consequences some
predicted, a Norwegian study does show negative mental health effects of unmet
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occupational aspirations (Gjerustad and van Soest 2012). Other commentators have
described high school and college students demanding and feeling entitled to
immediate rewards, while failing to work hard to obtain them (Coates and Morrison
2011, 112114; Twenge 2006). These two lines of argument suggest that members of
more recent birth cohorts (Generation Y) might believe more strongly than members
of Generation X that if they have worked hard in school they should be entitled to a
good job.
Howe and Strauss (2000) describe teenagers in the late 1990s as highly motivated,
eager to work in teams, and socially concerned. Yet they say little about specific work
values beyond observing that jobs with fringe benefits and opportunities for
promotion are most desired. This sounds like Generation Y is more extrinsically
than intrinsically motivated. However, Bibby, Russell, and Rolheiser (2009, 196)
present 2008 data showing that three-quarters or more of Canadian teenagers agreed
that finding a job with interesting work and that provided a feeling of accomplish-
ment (intrinsic work values) was very important. Fewer (about two-thirds) agreed
that jobs that paid well and offered chances for advancement (extrinsic work values)
were very important. In other words, they were somewhat more intrinsically
motivated. In contrast to both accounts, Twenges (2006) assessment is much less
positive and optimistic, characterising this generation as having very high expecta-
tions and a strong sense of entitlement.
using annual Monitoring the Future survey data. Compared to high school seniors of
the 1980s, more recent cohorts (the 1990s and early 2000s) placed less value on job
security, and somewhat less emphasis on other extrinsic work rewards (i.e. pay,
promotions, status). Intrinsic work values also tended to be lower in more recent
cohorts. Thus, Wray-Lake et al.s (2011) findings suggest higher intrinsic and
extrinsic work values in Generation X compared to Generation Y.
Turning to Canadian data, Bibby, Russell, and Rolheiser (2009) reported that
similar proportions of teenagers in 1984 and 2008 agreed on the importance of work
that was interesting, provided a feeling of accomplishment, offered chances for
advancement, and paid well. However, 50% of the 2008 cohort, compared to only
32% of the 1984 cohort, agreed that decision-making opportunities were very
important. In short, the general findings from these three time-lag studies do not
lead to a clear conclusion about differences between Generation X and Y in extrinsic
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Work values of young adults: gender, family, educational, and occupational influences
Early studies of gender differences in the work values of youth emphasised mens
preference for jobs offering extrinsic rewards in contrast to jobs with social and
altruistic rewards typically preferred by women (e.g. Bridges 1989; Lyson 1984).
Journal of Youth Studies 97
Since then the occupational aspirations of young women rose (Andres et al. 1999;
Shu and Marini 1998) as did their post-secondary enrollments (Cho 2007; Jacobs
1996). Consequently, gender differences in work values have also changed. A study of
US high school seniors graduating between 1976 and 1980 showed higher extrinsic
work values among men and higher intrinsic, social, and altruistic work values
among women (Johnson 2001a, 2002). In the mid-1990s, young women appeared to
be more intrinsically oriented than young men, but there was no gender difference in
extrinsic work values (Johnson and Mortimer 2011). Johnson (2001a) observed few
gender differences in intraindividual change in work values in early adulthood.
Johnson (2001b) also concluded that, to the extent they existed, gender differences in
value change were likely the result of the types of jobs women held.
Researchers working in the status attainment tradition have shown how social
origins, in particular family SES, affect the educational and occupational aspirations
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change in work values during early adulthood, but also how movement into adult
statuses (e.g. marriage, parenthood) may play a role.
Research questions
Popularised social science accounts of generational differences in young peoples
values and behaviours, as well as the few time-lag studies that have systematically
examined cohort differences in work values, are inconsistent in their conclusions.
This lack of consensus may result from a focus primarily on teenagers, despite the
strong evidence of considerable intraindividual change in work values in the post-
high school years. Consequently, although we do not put forward directional
hypotheses, our primary research question asks whether members of the class of 1985
(Generation X) or the class of 1996 (Generation Y) report stronger or weaker
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(intrinsic and extrinsic) work values and job entitlement beliefs, taking into account
change between ages 18 and 25 within each cohort.
Previous research has shown that gender and family SES shape the work values of
North American teenagers. It also demonstrates that employment and educational
experiences during early adulthood can lead to adjustments in young peoples work
values, as can marriage and parenthood. Again, the findings are not sufficiently
consistent with respect to both predictors and direction of change to allow specific
hypotheses. Hence, our second and third research questions ask about the extent and
direction of intraindividual change in work values and beliefs between ages 18 and 25
for both cohorts, and about key predictors of such change for each cohort, respectively.
Smyth, and Christian 2008), only 73% of this second cohort provided contact
information. In 2003, a telephone follow-up survey resulted in completed interviews
with 308 of the original study participants, now age 25 (41% of the total 1996
sample). Older high school graduates, immigrants, members of visible minority
groups, and disabled graduates were less likely to participate in the 2003 follow-up
(Krahn and Hudson 2006).
academic programmes, but some grade inflation may have taken place, since 29% of
the second cohort, compared to only 12% of the first, reported Grade 12 grades as
80% or higher. Twenty-eight per cent of the Class of 1985 had at least one parent
who had completed a university degree, compared to 39% of the second cohort. At
age 18, only 19% of the first cohort aspired to five or more years of post-secondary
education, in sharp contrast to 57% of the Class of 1996.1 By age 25, 32% of the
Class of 1985 had acquired a university degree, compared to 37% of the Class of
1996. Thus, at least by age 25, the remarkably high educational aspirations of the
second cohort had not been met.
Table 1. Sample characteristics at age 25, Class of 1985 and Class of 1996.
The Class of 1985 experienced more unemployment during the seven years after
leaving high school. However, at age 25, equal proportions of both cohorts worked
full-time (30 hour per week or more). Members of the Class of 1985 were more likely
to have obtained a managerial or professional job by age 25 (43% compared to 32%
of the Class of 1996).
Almost one-third (31%) of the Class of 1996 was still enrolled in some kind of
educational programme (frequently part-time) at age 25, compared to only 11% of
the earlier cohort. Along with this tendency to stay in school longer, researchers
have documented delayed transitions into other traditional markers of adulthood
such as full-time employment, home ownership, marriage/cohabitation and
parenthood (e.g. Arnett 2004; Mitchell 2006; Shanahan 2000). Reflecting such
trends, only 25% of the second cohort was married or cohabiting at age 25,
compared to 42% of the Class of 1985. Similar proportions of both cohorts were
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Results
Cohort, gender, and age differences in work values and beliefs
At age 18, both cohorts placed high value on intrinsic and extrinsic work rewards
(average scores greater than 4 on a 15 scale). They also typically agreed (average
Journal of Youth Studies 101
scores of almost 4 on a 15 scale) that young people who work hard in school are
entitled to a good job. To explore how work values and beliefs changed between ages
18 and 25 as a function of cohort and gender, we conducted a 2 22 (age
cohort gender) repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA), with age the
within-subjects factor for each dependent variable. All two- and three-way
interactions were tested.
The ANOVA for intrinsic work values revealed a significant age effect, F (1, 706)
38.50, pB.001, with intrinsic work values increasing between ages 18 and age 25
(Figure 1). The absence of significant two- or three-way interactions indicated similar
increases for both cohorts and for women and men. The only other significant effect
was for gender, F (1, 706)9.95, p B.01; women scored higher than men on intrinsic
work values (averaged across age and cohort).
The ANOVA for extrinsic work values (Figure 2) showed a different pattern.
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There was no significant effect of age, nor of gender, but there was a significant
between-subjects effect of cohort, F (1, 704) 11.31, p B.01, indicating that the value
placed on extrinsic work rewards, averaged across both ages and genders, was higher
in the 1996 than the 1985 cohort. Furthermore, there was a significant interaction
between cohort and age, F (1, 704)4.78, p B.05. Figure 2 shows an increase
between ages 18 and 25 in extrinsic work values in the 1996 cohort but not in the
1985 cohort.
The results for job entitlement were more complicated (Figure 3). A significant
effect of age indicated a drop in job entitlement by age 25, F (1, 700) 93.72,
p B.001. There was also a significant cohort effect, F (1, 700) 11.97, p B.01, with
the 1996 cohort showing stronger beliefs in job entitlement (averaged across age
and gender) relative to the 1985 cohort. And there was a significant gender effect,
with women having stronger beliefs in job entitlement (averaged across age and
cohort) than did men, F (1, 700) 34.57, p B.001. Additionally, a two-way
interaction between age and cohort, F (1, 700) 5.86, p B.05, revealed a more
dramatic decrease in job entitlement for the 1985 than the 1996 cohort. Finally, a
two-way interaction between age and gender, F (1, 700) 8.16, p B.01, indicated
that beliefs in job entitlement decreased more dramatically for men compared to
women.
Variable 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
1. Gender 0.00 0.01 0.02 0.05 0.04 0.02 0.04 0.02 0.16* 0.05 0.14* 0.09* 0.14* 0.05 0.02 0.02 0.13* 0.22*
2. Cohort 0.11* 0.07 0.09* 0.44* 0.13* 0.08* 0.05 0.01 0.25* 0.18* 0.02 0.03 0.05 0.06 0.16* 0.05 0.14*
3. Parent(s) 0.18* 0.15* 0.30* 0.07 0.15* 0.30* 0.03 0.08* 0.07 0.09* 0.09* 0.05 0.08* 0.12* 0.07* 0.07
education
4. High school 0.09* 0.37* 0.12* 0.04 0.27* 0.00 0.08* 0.10* 0.14* 0.06 0.11* 0.02 0.04 0.07* 0.02
programme
5. Grade 12 grades 0.22* 0.06 0.12* 0.38* 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.10* 0.06 0.07 0.09* 0.19* 0.05 0.10*
Note: N703710. Gender (female 1); Cohort (1996 1); Parent(s) education (university 1); High school programme (academic 1); PS asp (Post-secondary
aspirations; yes 1); Months unemployed (ages 18 25); College diploma by age 25 (yes 1); University degree by age 25 (yes 1); Employed full-time at 25 (yes 1);
Student at 25 (yes 1); Married/cohabiting at 25 (yes 1); Parent at 25 (yes 1).
*p B0.05.
103
104 H.J. Krahn and N.L. Galambos
Intrinsic work values at age 18 accounted for a significant portion of the variance
(7%) in the same measure at age 25 (Table 3, column 1), although the relatively small
coefficient (b 0.25) reflects considerable instability in values in early adulthood.
Block 2 predictors did not explain any additional variance, but the Block 3 results
showed that higher post-secondary aspirations in Grade 12 were associated with a
significant increase in intrinsic work values by age 25 (b 0.12). Block 4 added 2% to
the explained variance; less unemployment in early adulthood (b0.08) and
acquisition of a university degree by age 25 (b0.15) were associated with increased
value placed on intrinsic rewards. The set of adult statuses at age 25 in Block 5 did
not explain a significant portion of the remaining variance. A total of 12% of the
variance in age 25 intrinsic work values was explained by the full set of predictors.2
Compared to intrinsic work values, extrinsic work values at age 18 accounted for
a larger proportion of the variance (13%) in the same measure at age 25 (Table 3,
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column 2), signifying somewhat higher stability across early adulthood. Two of the
three background variables in Block 2 had significant effects. The Class of 1996
Table 3. Hierarchical regression analyses predicting intrinsic and extrinsic work values and
job entitlement beliefs at age 25.
placed higher value on extrinsic work rewards at age 25, compared to the 1985
cohort (b 0.15). At age 25, participants from higher SES families considered
extrinsic work rewards to be less important (b 0.11). Employment and education
experiences in early adulthood (Block 4) did not explain a significant portion of the
variance in age 25 extrinsic work values, but adult statuses (Block 5) did (2%).
Specifically, participants who were employed full-time at age 25 (b0.10) and those
who were parents at age 25 (b0.10) valued extrinsic work rewards more highly. The
full set of predictors explained 21% of the variance in age 25 extrinsic work values.
Job entitlement beliefs at age 18 explained 10% of the variance in the same beliefs
at age 25 (column 3). Predictors in Block 2 explained another 5%, revealing that
women, more than men (b0.18), and members of the 1996 cohort, compared to the
1985 cohort (b 0.13), were more likely to agree at age 25 that working hard in
school entitled them to a good job. Another 2% of the variance was explained by
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Grade 12 predictors; those with higher grades (b 0.07) and higher post-
secondary aspirations (b 0.14) expressed weaker job entitlement beliefs at age
25. Early adult experiences (Block 4) also predicted change in job entitlement beliefs,
explaining an additional 1% of variance. Those who were unemployed for more
months between ages 18 and 25 (b 0.09) had stronger entitlement beliefs by age 25.
Block 5 (adult statuses at age 25) did not explain additional variance. Twenty per
cent of the variance in job entitlement at age 25 was explained by the full set of
predictors.
predictors of age 25 intrinsic and extrinsic work values, and job entitlement beliefs,
did not differ by cohort.
Discussion
Our primary research question asked whether members of the class of 1985
(Generation X) or the class of 1996 (Generation Y) report stronger or weaker
(intrinsic and extrinsic) work values and job entitlement beliefs, taking into account
intraindividual change between ages 18 and 25 within each cohort. Our longitudinal
sequential study highlighted several significant cohort differences. Compared to the
Class of 1985, the Class of 1996 placed increasing value on extrinsic work rewards
between ages 18 and 25, reported stronger job entitlement beliefs (averaged across
age), and showed less pronounced decline in job entitlement beliefs between ages 18
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and 25. The two cohorts did not differ in intrinsic work values. In a time-lag study
based on the age 18 data only, Lowe and Krahn (2000) found few cohort differences,
and speculated that larger differences might be observed later in the transition to
adulthood during which new challenges, opportunities, and experiences are reflected
in a diversity of developmental pathways (Arnett 2004; Cohen et al. 2003b). The
current study supports the idea that cohort differences may be accentuated as they
play out in the several years after high school graduation. Previous time-lag studies
(Bibby, Russell, and Rolheiser 2009; Twenge 2010; Wray-Lake et al. 2011) have
focused largely on teens or high school seniors, and have not followed their samples
into early adulthood, a prime period for intraindividual change in work values.
There are no previous multi-cohort studies to which we can compare our findings
of stronger job entitlement beliefs in the Class of 1996 compared to the Class of
1985, but they are generally consistent with Twenges (2010) argument that recent
cohorts of youth are becoming more entitled. The growing gap between the number
of highly-educated youth and the availability of well-paying, high-skill jobs
(Reynolds et al. 2006, Schneider and Stevenson 1999) could be responsible for
higher job entitlement beliefs in the Class of 1996. Recognising that getting a good
job was becoming more difficult, even with a university education, the Class of 1996
might also have placed more value on finding work with extrinsic work rewards that
earlier cohorts took for granted.
We use the concept cohort rather than generation in this discussion because
our cohort differences in extrinsic work values and job entitlement beliefs were
statistically significant but not particularly strong. The only other time-lag study that
explicitly contrasted work values across cohorts also found only small to moderate
generational differences in work values (Twenge 2010, 1133). Because of these small
effect sizes, we are confident in reporting cohort differences but reluctant to conclude
that they reflect the emergence of truly different generations as defined by Mannheim
([1927] 1952).
Our second research question asked about the extent and direction of
intraindividual change in work values and beliefs between ages 18 and 25 for both
cohorts. Members of both cohorts reported significantly higher intrinsic work values
at age 25 than at age 18. Extrinsic work values also rose significantly during early
adulthood for the 1996 cohort. In contrast, job entitlement beliefs declined
significantly between ages 18 and 25 in both cohorts. Thus, our study echoes
previous findings of intraindividual change in extrinsic work values during the
Journal of Youth Studies 107
transition to adulthood (Johnson and Elder 2002) and also demonstrates significant
change in job entitlement beliefs.
The increase in intrinsic work values between ages 18 and 25 in our study is not
consistent, however, with findings of little change between ages 18 and 32 in 197680
US high school graduation cohorts (Johnson and Elder 2002), but parallels Cotton,
Bynum, and Madhere (1997) study showing an increase between ages 18 and 22 for
middle-class US high school seniors in the mid-1980s. Furthermore, whereas
extrinsic work values (including job security) rose by age 25 in our Class of 1996,
for the 197680 US cohorts, extrinsic work values (e.g. pay, promotions) declined
between ages 18 and 32, while value placed on job security declined and then
returned to its earlier level. Cotton, Bynum, and Madhere (1997) also observed a
decline in extrinsic work values between ages 18 and 22 in the mid-1980s in their US
study.
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on extrinsic work rewards (including job security); they did, but the positive
coefficient was not significant. What is surprising, in retrospect, is how little the
literature on work values of youth has focused on the effects of unemployment,
particularly given previous longitudinal research showing negative effects of
unemployment on mental health (Dooley, Prause, and Ham-Rowbottom 2000;
Schaufeli 1997). Further research on this topic is clearly needed.
With respect to measures of adult statuses, only two had significant net effects,
and only for extrinsic work values. Participants who were employed full-time and
who were parents by age 25 placed growing value on extrinsic work rewards, as they
might be expected to do as responsible (for children) adults. Value reinforcement
theory would predict a socialising effect of taking on full-time work and parenting
roles, in which the former leads to extrinsic work rewards and the latter requires
them. Although adult role statuses were not consistent predictors of work values and
beliefs at age 25, it is important to note that when the adult role statuses were entered
into our regression analyses, significant amounts of variance in the outcomes had
already been explained. Thus, our tests of the net significance of adult role statuses
are conservative.
Finally, our examination of interactions between cohort and all other predictors
of work values at age 25 revealed only one significant effect. Participants in the 1996
cohort, who were married or cohabiting held stronger job entitlement beliefs at age
25. Thus, there is little evidence that the predictors of change between ages 18 and 25
differed between our cohorts born eleven years apart.
Conclusions
Guided by a life course perspective, this paper may be the first to systematically
examine cohort differences in mean levels of and intraindividual change in work
values and job entitlement beliefs in early adulthood. We found significant cohort
differences involving extrinsic work values and job entitlement beliefs (but not
intrinsic work values) that likely reflect changing labour market conditions and post-
secondary enrollment patterns in North America. Unlike the few other studies that
have compared work values of youth in different cohorts by focusing only on
teenagers or high school seniors, we relied on both ages 18 and 25 data to reach more
confident conclusions about differences in the work values and beliefs of the Class of
1985 and the Class of 1996. Our results clearly show the importance of recognising
Journal of Youth Studies 109
that work values change during early adulthood. They also imply that, with
increasing age, the differences we observed between cohorts could get larger or
smaller.
We began this paper with a discussion of Generation X and Generation Y,
employing these labels because of their widespread use in the media and popularised
social science. We concluded by discussing cohort differences in work values and job
entitlement beliefs. These differences are real, and interesting, but in relative terms
they are not large. Nor did we find evidence that predictors of value/belief change
between ages 18 and 25 differed across cohorts. Consequently, using Mannheims
([1927] 1952) conceptualisation, we are reluctant to conclude that these cohort
differences reflect the emergence of a new generation (i.e. Generation Y). This
caution might be of particular interest to employers who are frequently informed by
the media and popularised social science (e.g. Howe and Strauss 2000; Montana and
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Lenaghan 1999; Schneider and Stevenson 1999; Twenge et al. 2010) that they must
change the way they manage young people, because of their supposedly vastly
different work values and beliefs.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by grants to the first author by the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada, Alberta Advanced Eduation, and the University of Alberta.
Data were collected by the Population Research Laboratory, University of Alberta.
Notes
1. The question about years of post-secondary education desired was asked open-ended in
1996, compared to a forced-choice option with five response categories in 1985. The
change in wording may be partially responsible for the large cohort difference, although a
national survey in 2000 also revealed very high aspirations 61% of 15-year-olds hoped to
complete one or more university degrees (Krahn and Taylor 2005).
2. Although the R2 value presented for each of the regression analyses in Table 1 reflect the
final equations, following convention (Cohen et al. 2003a) the standardised partial
coefficients for each block of variables take into account only the other variables in that
and preceding blocks.
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