ABSTRACT
This chapter draws on two national sample surveys of American youth in an attempt to clarify: the nature of trends in private materialism, personal self-fulfillment, family life, and public interest as life goals of American youth, possible effects of these trends on the personal plans and attitudes of American youth, and the causes of trends in life goals. It shows the evidence suggests a sharp shift toward private materialism from the seventies through 1986-87, with important effects on plans and attitudes. The causes of the shift appear to be linked to the impact on the values of the American population generally of declining real wage rates and rising material aspirations in the post-1973 period. Particularly in the freshman data, but to some extent also in those for high school seniors, one sees a leveling off in the period starting around 1986-87.
