Chronological changes in college students' view of life

Abstract

This study examined the changes in college students' view of life through three periods: The 1960s, 80s, and 90s. Approximately 3000 students at a liberal arts college responded at least once during the periods to a questionnaire with 13 descriptions (13 Ways to Live; Morris, 1956). Factor analyses, with principal component analysis and varimax rotation, found four factors that were common to the three subject groups. An examination of factor scores revealed that the first factor, “Sympathy and Service,” decreased while the fourth, “Comfort and Variety,” increased in the 80s and 90s, suggesting that an individualistic yet conforming tendency became more prominent in the latter periods than the 60s. While the third factor, “Active Action,” increased during the four college years in the 60s, it decreased in the 80s. These changes may have reflected the campus unrest in the 60s and the subsequent student apathy in the 80s. A recent increase in the fourth factor, especially among sophomores, seems to reflect the current characteristics in college students' view of life, namely a “moratorium” tendency. © 1995, The Japanese Psychological Association. All rights reserved.