Value Orientation of Fourth Year College Women towards Family, Career and Graduate Studies

Abstract

The study determined the relationship of fourth year college women’s value orientation to their family, career, and graduate studies as well as the relation between their orientation to the relative importance of career and family in their adult lives and the Task Values (Intrinsic, Attainment, Utility, and Cost) that they associate in the pursuit of their graduate studies. The descriptive correlational design was utilized to the 379 female students of Holy Angel University (HAU). The participants completed four instruments: a brief demographic questionnaire that provided information about age, course, major, and section; the Family and Career Scale (FCS); the Intention to Pursue Graduate Studies Questionnaire; and the Valuing of Education (VOE) Scale. The demographic questionnaire sought information about the participants’ age, course, major, and section primarily for the purpose of describing them. The Family and Career Scale (FCS) is a 16-item scale developed by Battle (Battle & Wigfield, 2003) to measure family versus career orientation. The Intention to Pursue Graduate Studies Questionnaire was developed by Battle and Wigfield (2003). It has two Likert-type items rated on a 10-point scale ranging from definitely will not (1) to definitely will (10). It was based on a similar question used by Eccles and colleagues (1983) to assess students’ intentions to take more Math. Findings revealed that the graduating students had a highly remarkable family and career orientations particularly in the Intrinsic Task Value. Implications for education emphasized on the preparation of both undergraduate and graduate degree programs on the curricula that may enhance the students’ intention to pursue their graduate studies.