Socialization to Work in Late Adolescence: The Role of Television and Family

Abstract

This survey of college freshmen examines the role of television and family in anticipatory socialization to work. Findings indicate that both sources play a role in the development of work-related values and aspirations, but contribute in different ways. Wishful identification was higher for characters perceived to have higher paying jobs and stronger extrinsic (but not intrinsic) work values. Although causal direction cannot be shown, results suggest that respondents internalized the intrinsic and extrinsic work values they perceived in their parents' jobs, but derived mainly extrinsic work values and desire for easy work from observing their favorite characters at work.

Notes

⁺ p < .10.

*p < .05.

***p < .001.

⁺ p < .10.

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

***p < .001.

¹A fifth item intended to measure “easy work” was included on the list of work values for the character, the parent, and the respondent: works with little supervision/leaves you (him/her) mostly free of supervision. This item substantially reduced the reliability for two of the three “easy work” scales, and thus was eliminated from all three scales.

²A 2 × 2 mixed ANOVA, with dependence on parents versus television as a within-subjects factor and parents' education level (no college degree vs. at least a college degree) as a between-subjects factor, revealed a significant interaction, F(1, 217) = 7.10, p < .01. Although both groups relied more on parents than on television for information about occupations and careers, the difference was significantly larger for those whose parents had more education (Ms = 3.68 vs. 2.80) than for those whose parents had less education parents (Ms = 3.53 vs. 3.12).