Silk Stockings and Blue Collars: Social Work As a Career Choice Of
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SILK STOCKINGS AND BLUE COLLARS Socia 1 Work as a Career Choice of America I s 1961 College Graduates Galen L. Gockel This research was supported in part by Grant No. 145 from the Welfare Administration , U. S. Department of Health , Education , and Welfare NATIONAL OPINION RESEARCH CENTER University of Chicago Report No. 114 April , 1966 .. .." . .. .... ......" .... .... ..".... "...." '".... .."... .... ,...... ...... ...... ..".. .."".. .... .... ...... .... .... TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES (I iii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (I vii INTRODUCTION It .. " " ft .. Chapter CRARACTERISTICS OF SENIORS SELECTING SOCIAL WORK AND OTHER FIELDS II. EBB AND FLOW III. CORRELATES OF RECRUITMENT TO SOCIAL WORK IV. CORRELATES OF RETENTION IN SOCIAL WORK THE FIRST YEAR AFTER GRADUATION 135 APPENDICES THE ACADEMIC PERFORMNCE INDEX (API) 165 II. ESTIMATION OF SIZE OF JUNE , 1961 , GRADUATING CLASS 169 III. QUESTIONNAIRES 171 .. .. .. .. .. .." .. .., .. .. .. .., .. .... .... .. .. LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1.1 Sex and Age of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1. 2 Age , by Sex , of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fiel.ds 1. 3 Age of Men in Social Work and Other Fields 1.4. Age , by Sex and API , for Social Work and Other Fields 1. 5 Parental Income by Field 1. 6 Parental Income Distribution , Undergraduate and Graduate Social Work Students in Three Sel.ected Studies 1. 7 Parental Income , by Sex , of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1. 8 Income, by Sex and API , of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1.9 Parental Income, by School Quality and Grade Point Average 1.10 Service-Oriented Values of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1.11 Service-Oriented Values , by Sex , of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1.12 Intellect-Oriented Values of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1.13 Independence-Oriented Values of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1.14 Independence-Oriented Values , by Sex , of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1.15 Social Workers and Non-Social Workers Compared on Three Indices of Occupational Values 1.16 Academic Performance Index , by Sex , for Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields to .. 1.17 Enrollment in Schools of High Quality, by Sex , Among Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields 1.18 Grade Point Average , by Sex and School Quality, of Seniors Selecting Social Work and Other Fields iii .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .." .. ...." ".... .." ...." .."" ... .." .." ..".. ..," LIST OF TABLES--Continued Table Page ILl Recrui tment and Defection between Freshman and Senior Years II. Collegiate Defection from Specific Fields II. Recruitment and Defection during First Post-Baccalaureate Year II. Recruitment and Defection during Second Post-Baccalaureate Year II. Socia 1 Work Turnover II. Career Choice Patterns of Freshmen Selecting Social Work as a Career II. 7 Career Choice Patterns of Seniors Selecting Social Work as a Career 11.8 Career Choice Patterns of Those Choosing Social Work Two Years after Graduation 11.9 Field Growth and Decline from Freshman Year to Two Years after Graduation II. Projection of Actual Number of Aspirants to Social Work in the College Graduating Class of 1961 III. Correlates of Recruitment into Social Work III. 2 Recruitment and Sex Q . III. Collegiate Recruitment and Values by Background Variables III. College Recruitment and Values , by Sex III. Collegiate Recruitment and Values , by Religion Q . III. 6 Collegiate Recruitment and Socio-Economic Status , by Sex III. Collegiate Recruitment and Parental Income among Men III. 8 Collegiate Recruitment and Socio-Economic Status , by API III. 9 Q Associations between "Only Child" and Collegiate Recruitment among Various Sub Groups . III. 10 Collegiate Recruitment and Birth Order , by Sex III. 11 Collegiate Recruitment and Marital Status , by Sex III. 12 Collegiate Recruitment and Importance of Parental Advice by Sex III. 13 Collegiate Recruitment and Various Characteristics , by Sex III. 14 Freshman Career Fields of Recruits to Social Work .. .. " .. .. .." .." ".. .." ......" .... ...." .." ..... .... LIST OF TABLES--Continued Table Page IV. Correlates of Retention in Social Work IV. Average Q Associations between Retention and Selected Variables. IV. Collegiate Retention and " People " by Sex .. a IV. Sex and Retention , by Parental Income IV. Sex and Retention , by Change in Marital Status IV. Retention and Service-Oriented Values , by Sex 101 IV. Retention and " People, " by Measures of Socio-Economic Status 103 IV. Retention and Birth Order , by Sex l05 IV. Retention and Political Orientation , by Sex and API 107 IV. Retention and Political Orientation , by Prior Pattern of Career Choice 109 IV. Retention and Socio-Economic Variables 111 IV. Retention and Parental Income , by Race 113 IV. Retention during First Year after Graduation and Parental Income , by Father s Occupation 115 IV. Retention and Importance of Parental Advice , by Sex and Father I s Education 117 IV. Retention and Religiousness , by Religion and Previous Pattern of Career Choice l23 IV. Retention , by Previous Pattern of Career Choice 126 IV. Senior Career Fields of Defectors during College and of All Seniors 129 V. 1 Activities during the First Year after Graduation , among Those Who Had Selected Social Work as a Career Field in the Senior Year 136 Summary of Activities during the First Year after Graduation among Those Who Had Selected Social Work as a Career Field in the Senior Year 139 Graduate Social Work Education , by Various Characteristics 141 Activities during the First Year after Graduation , by Career Pattern during College , API , and Change in Marital Status l43 Activities during the First Year after Graduation , by Sex and Parenta 1 Income 145 LIST OF TABLES--Continued Table Page Activities during the First Year after Graduation and Sex by API and Career Choice Pattern during College 149 Activities during the First Year fter Graduation and Three Occupational Values 150 Trend in Endorsement of "Freedom from Supervision" as an Occupational Value , by Change in Career Choice 153 Activities during the First Year after Graduation , by Birth Order 155 Activities during First Year after Graduation , by Birth Order and API 156 Activities during the First Year after Graduation , by Parental Income 157 Activities during First Year after Graduation , by Parental Income and API 158 Activities during First Year after Graduation , by Parental Income and Pattern of Previous Career Choice 160 Activities during First Year after Graduation , by Various Characteristics 161 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Chart Page :LV. 1 Retention and Importance of Parental Advice , by Father Education 118 IV. Association between Average Retention and Recruitment Q ' 130 vii INTRODUCTION In his comprehensive report to the Federal Task Force on Social Work Education and Manpower, French notes: The two problems in maintaining and expanding a work force are recruitment and retention of workers. These problems . are faced by the organized profess ion as it seeks to expand its share of the available supply of persons in the labor force in competition with other occupational fields. The turnover problem of individual agencies ,"here personnel movement is easily charted , has received considerable attention, while the problem of movement into and out of the areas of social work specialization or social work as a field has received much less 0 In 1961 the National Opinion Rese.axch Center init.Lated a large- scale st.udy of the nation i s graduating class of that year, Jus t before they graduated, over 40, 000 seniors on 135 campuses were given que5tion naires by local representatives of NORC, They provided data on their career aspirations, occupational values, college experiences, plans for employment and graduate training, and a variety of background and demographic charac- teristics. All students in the sample, whether or not they responded to this 1961 wave, 'A7ere follo,f,ed up in 1962, 1963, and 1964. Thus longitudinal data from four points i.n time were made available on a large, representative sample of the college graduating class of 1961 Annually, each respondent. in the panel reported the occupational field in which he planned to make his long-run ca.reer. In this ,Nay it 1/J81S possible to study specific occupational and professional groups, This report prese.nts da.ta. on those respond.ents ,,,ho ident.ified soci.al work as their long-run career choice on one or more of the fi::' s t three waves of the study, Thus it follows college sen. through the first two years David Go French, " Needed Research on Soeial Work ManpO'ver: A Report. to the Tank Force on Social Work Education and l'1anpower !! (!\Tashington: Department of Health , Education, and Welfare , 1954), pp. 1 A full description of the sampling procedures is contained in Appendix 5 of James A. Davis, Great Aspirations (Chicago: Aldine Publishing Co., 1964). after graduationo Further, retrospective data from the first (senior) wave permi t an analysis of the college years. The study is viewed as a response to the growing concern for the supply and utilization of manpower in social welfare , and as a contribu- tion to the increasing demand for empirical research in this entire area. It has limitations , however , of which the reader should be aware The NORC college seniors study--the " parent" from which t his report has de scended--was not designed with any specific occupation in mind. In our case , this means that a number