Adolescents' views of work and leisure in The Netherlands and the United States.

During early adolescence, youth begin to make choices about their future. Sundberg and Tyler (1970) found differences between adolescents in the Netherlands and the United States as to their possibilities for future occupations and leisure activities. Since there have been many changes in both countries over the past twenty-five years, the present study was designed as a replication and expansion of that research. Participants were 522 14- and 15-year-olds in the Netherlands and the United States who filled out the Sundberg and Tyler questionnaire (in the original Dutch and English forms) and drew a picture of the ideal man or woman engaged in an activity. Two-way (country by gender) ANOVAs indicated that the number of occupations listed was greater for adolescents in the Netherlands than in the United States, and that girls listed more occupations than did boys, but considered fewer occupations as actual possibilities for themselves. There was an apparent increase in the number of leisure activities listed by adolescents in the Netherlands. In the U.S., the ideal person was more often drawn as being at work (44.9%) as compared with the Netherlands (20.4%). U.S. students seemed more inclined to glamorize work; popular drawings had themes which linked work and success, achievement and wealth. Dutch students seemed to be interested in quality of life; their drawings depicted sports, relaxation, attractiveness, and humor.