ABSTRACT
The military establishment can no longer depend on direct conscription or on draft-motivated enlistment to assure the accession of sufficient numbers of high-quality recruits. Although the attitudes of American youth toward military service constitute only one component of the accession equation, they are extremely important. Moreover, to assure the cost effectiveness of recruiting efforts, the services need to know not only the aggregate attitudes of youth but also the variations in these attitudes among different "recruiting markets." The heart of "Monitoring the Future" is a series of annual, national surveys of high school seniors, beginning with the Class of 1975. In addition, annual follow-up surveys track these classes for the first five years following graduation. The samples are large-scale and nationally representative. Young women in 1975 differ from their male counterparts only in some areas: they are more supportive of disarmament, and they are much more likely to indicate that moral principles would prevent their participation in war and killing.
