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Life goals of Indian and American college students
LIFE GOALS OF INDIAN AND AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS
M. K RAINA and ARU~~MA
VATS
ABSTRACT. The Life Goals Inventory was administered to 170 Indian college students to explore how the students perceive their futunz in terms of vocationaL social, and personal goals. Based on results, it wus observed that many social factors have been ~nst~menta~ in ~n~~e~cing the life goals, part~~~ffr~~ the vocational goals of the students. Results a&o indicate that life goals can be ugespecific, Subjects are found to value the traditio~ai so~iai-personal goals like “becoming a good husband or wife” and “becoming good parents.” A comparison of the perceived ri,fegoais of Indian college students with American szudents indicate that Indian females perceive the same goals as their American counterparts, for example, “becoming a good mother”and “becoming a good wife.” Indian males share economic, political, and some tradiiiona~ goals with their American counterparts. Findings have been interpreted in terms of social and ~~tara~ conditions as they affect life goals.
Human beings’ activities are always goal directed. An individual from an early age is able to choose goals. Goal direction is determined by perceptions, however undeveloped they may be at the beginning. Later on, emotional reactions and evaluations also play decisive roles in the individual’s goal setting process. Another forceful impact on the individual’s goal setting process is the social system and cultural ideology of which he is a member and exponent (Buhler & Massarik, 1968). This system and ideology are strong co-determinants of the individu~s group behavior and social roles, opportunities and limitations, and values and beliefs (Erikson, 1963; Kakar, 1978; Raynor, 1978; Srinivas, 1980). An individual’s aptitude and talent may add a specific flavor to this need to become an active member of the group. Social psychology has assembled an enormous body of information on group behavior and social roles. Empirical procedures have disclosed the ways in which, within certain subcultural groups, values and belief patterns are being transmitted from parents to children and goal setting procedures get affected as a result. All through childhood and adolescence, the development of goal setting increases and proceeds in various directions. Several factors have a decisive Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Arunima Vats, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110016, India.
58
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
influence on this development. The complexity of the goal setting process is extraordinary. A few studies (Astin & Nicholas, 1964; Reddy, 1980; Richards, 1966) in India and abroad have demonstrated that social values are related to different aspects of human behavior in different ways. Social values play an important role in determining the life goals, aspirations, and level of achievement in culturally significant areas of behavior. Social values have been regarded as strong motivational forces. May (1964) stated that goal orientation gives a meaning and direction to life towards purposeful living, emphasizing the “will” and decision necessary to live this way. Technological developments and consequent social changes may considerably influence life goals. Remarkable influences on various psychological aspects of Indian youth are being noted as a result of technical, economic, and social developments (Gore 1977; Kamat, 1983). It is important to know the impact of these changes on the life orientations of people. They are being increasingly exposed to technological innovations and new ideas of social change. New opportunities have emerged because of political and other structural changes. Therefore, it is plausible that these changes have influenced people to be more activistic and future oriented. Various research studies (Mead & Singh, 1973; Reddy, 1980; Reddy & Bhatt, 1977) have indicated Indian students to be high on: vigorous action, openness to change, prosperity, sociability, helpfulness, community living, high esteem, equality and tolerance, achievement, solving of nation’s problems, self-development, beauty, personal independence, (being) useful citizens, self-reliance, friendship and affection, self-control, and pleasing personality as compared to American students. These studies have also shown that both rural and urban subjects score high on activistic and future-orientation values, whereas they had lower individualistic values and goals. It was also observed in these studies that the subjects were aware of the importance of the future and were also aware of the possibilities of succeeding in building their future. On the other hand, owing to their familistic tendency, their mobility was likely to be impeded. Without mobility, they could not achieve what they wanted. The results of these studies also pointed out that Indian students valued good physical appearance. Another investigation (Reddy, 1980) has yielded that females have more modern attitudes toward life as compared to males. Males have shown preference for political, theoretical, and economic life orientations, while females preferred more aesthetic, religious, and social goals. In the same investigation, it was found that Indian students scored higher on theoretical and political life goals than their American counterparts, whereas, the latter were concerned with religious values. The Indian students scored slightly higher on the economic aspect, whereas, the American students secured slightly higher mean scores
Life Goals
59
on aesthetic and social aspects of life. These differences were, however, nonsignificant. The present study, essentially of an exploratory nature, was undertaken to explore the life goals of Indian college students and to compare these with American undergraduate students’ life goals related to their vocational, social, 2nd personal values. METHOD
Subjects The subjects were 100 female and 70 male undergraduates from different colleges in Chandigarh City, India. The subjects were students majoring in either arts or science fields. Data for comparison, on life goals of American college students, were used from “a large scale project conducted by the American College Testing Programme in an attempt to obtain a more complete account of the typical American College student” (Richards, 1966). The students, both males and females, represented 31 institutions of higher education, including selective liberal arts colleges, state universities, and two year community colleges (Richards, 1966). However, we were conscious of the limitations and dangers in comparing data on a small Indian sample with a very large American sample. Care, therefore, was taken to interpret results with caution and the results obtained here are only of an indicative nature.
Life Gods Inventory The assessment device used to cotlect the data was the Life Goals Inventory. It consists of 35 items pertaining to different goals and aspirations of the students. These specific goals fall into three broad categories: I/ocafional: Such goals include making a theoretical contribution to science; becoming an expert in finance and commerce; writing good fiction, etc. Sociaf: Helping others who are in difficulty; being a good parent; becoming a community leader. Personal: Becoming happy and content; being well liked; following a normal religious code. Each of the 35 specific life goals items was rated by the subjects on a four point scale (of little or no importance, somewhat important, very important, and essential for you). Scores ranging from 1 to 4 were assigned to these responses, so that a high score indicates a high degree of importance.
60
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
RESULTS Mean scores, standard deviations, and t values for Indian and American students on the 35 items are presented in the Table 1. Table 1 indicates that Indian students differ on: inventing or developing a useful device; becoming accomplished in one of the performing arts; becoming a community leader; becoming influential in public affairs; making a technical contribution to science; writing good fiction; becoming an accomplished musician; keeping up-to-date with political affairs; being a good husband or wife; being a good parent; finding a real purpose in life; avoiding hard work and engaging in exciting and stimulating activity. On “obtaining awards or recognition and becoming an expert in finance and commerce,” both males and females scored identically. For the remaining items, differences were not found to be statistically significant. American males and females differ from each other on: inventing a useful device; helping others; becoming an authority on a special subject; doing something to make parents feel proud; becoming an outstanding athelete; making sacrifices for others’ happiness; becoming influential in public affairs; making a theoretical/technical contribution to science; becoming expert in finance; having executive responsibility; being successful in business. On the remaining items, the differences were not found to be statistically significant. Indian and American students were compared on their ten most valued and least valued life goals. Comparisons were done group-wise and for the total group. Tables 2, 3, and 4 contain this information. The results show that Indian males share some of the perceptions about life goals with their American counterparts. Similarly, the table for females and the total group also indicate that some of the Indian students’ ideas about life goals are the same as that of American students. Rank order coefficients of correlations were computed between the responses of Indian and American students. It was found that the coefficient (p) between the perceived life goals of Indian and American males is .60; Indian females and American females is .55, and total groups is .96. American females share the perceptions of American males more closely about goals of life (p=.93) as compared to Indian males and females (p = .47). Further analysis was done to compare the Indian males and females on eight major life goals. These goals were obtained by Richards (1966) after factor analysing the intercorrelations of 35 items of Life Goals Inventory. The factors obtained are: 1. Prestige Goal: Becoming a community leader; becoming influential in community.
z!
1. Becoming happy and content 2. Becoming well off financially 3. Inventing or developing a useful device 4. Helping others who are in di~~ulty 6. Becoming accomplished in the performing arts 6. Developing a meaningful philosophy of life 7. Becoming an authority on a special subject of my field 6. Doing something which will make my parents proud of me 9. Making sacrifices for the sake of the happiness of others 10. Becoming an outstanding athlete 11. Becoming a community leader 12. Becoming influential in public affairs 13. Following a formal religious code 14. Having the time and means to relax and enjoy life 3.04 3.03 2.99 3.36 2.86 2.75 3.45 3.65 3.53 3.03 2.81 2.96 3.05 3.32
Mean
SD .79 .65 .65 91 .80 .60 .31 59 .9t 1.80 .73 .69 53 .46
Indian Males
4.40 2.75 3.13 2.98 2.94 3.07 2.92 3.00 3.02 2.56 2.54 2.74 2.51 2.94
Mean .47 .74 .52 .65 .64 52 .59 .71 52 .68 .96 .78 .96 .68
SD
Indian Females
13.6 3.50 1.758 3.16 .72a 3.20 7.57 5.90 4.72 2.23 1.92a 1 .83a 4.15 3.80
t 3.64 2.94 1.56 2.61 1.52 2.93 2.98 3.06 2.55 1.92 2.11 2.04 2.62 3.22
Mean
.97 .73 .77 ‘82 .83 1.oo SO .85 .83 .97 .86 .89 1.11 .82
SD
American Mates
TABLE 1 Mean Values and Standard Deviations of Indian and American College Students on Life Goals Inventory
3.78 2.78 1.23 2.96 1.72 3.23 2.63 3.34 2.90 1.42 1.95 1.71 2.87 3.33
Mean
.58 .78 .56 .82 .91 .93 -99 .80 .86 .77 .83 .82 1.10 .81
SD
American Females
1.oo .I8 2.75 2.84 1.33 1.76 2.05 2.00 2.33 3.12 1.06 2.20 1.56 .73
t
8
aNot significant.
15. Making a theoretical contribution to science 16. Making a technical contribution to science 17. Writing good fiction 16. Being well read 19. Becoming a mature and well-adjusted person 20. Obtaining awards or recognition 21. Never being obligated to people 22. Keeping in good physical condition 23. Producing good artistic work 24. Becoming an accomplished musician 25. Becoming an expert in finance and commerce 26. Keeping up-to-date with political affairs 27. Being well liked 26. Being a good husband or wife 29. Being a good parent 30. Finding a real purpose in life 31. Being active in religious affairs 32. Having executive responsibility for the work of others 33. Avoidtng hard work 34. Engaging in exciting and stimulating activities 35. Being successful in a business of my own
TABLE 1
SD .64 .66 .77 .43 .70 .60 .59 .41 .81 .83 .90 .82 .43 .24 .23 .59 .62 .74 .97 .76 .58
Mean 3.20 3.21 2.77 3.45 3.27 2.99 3.20 3.32 3.25 2.67 2.55 2.66 3.42 3.62 3.66 3.07 3.00 3.26 2.75 3.08 3.05
Indian Males
Continued
2.88 3.15 2.78 3.13 2.89 2.99 2.86 2.46 2.74 2.63 2.55 2.76 2.84 3.63 3.83 2.88 2.70 2.75 2.55 3.05 2.76
Mean .70 .79 .77 55 .66 .59 .77 1.05 .85 .96 .91 .67 .87 .52 .84 .74 .84 .76 .92 .51 .75
SD
Indian Females
1.62
.50a .07a 4.00 3.16 Oa 3.09 6.14 3.92 .26a B .83a 4.83 .16a .27a 1.72a 2.50 4.41 1.33a .30a 2.63
1.64
2.90
1.44 2.66 3.68 2.19 2.37 3.11 1.44 1.39 1.84 2.58 3.07 3.89 3.75 3.65 2.58 2.39 1.44 2.66 2.68
Mean
t .85 86 -78 .QO .72 .86 .98 .85 .79 .77 .96 ‘86 .80 .68 .64 .69 1.03 .89 .78 .80 1.OQ
SD
American Males
1.27 1.22 1.51 2.94 3.81 1.99 2.32 3.25 1.61 1.42 1.40 2.56 3.29 3.88 3.90 3.83 2.91 1.98 1.31 2.85 2.01
Mean
.84 .90 .76 .73 .88 .76 .47 .44 51 .99 .88 .64 .82 1.08
1.oo
.62 58 .82 .84 .56 .85
SD
American Females
2.84 3.07 $50 1.75 1.18 1.33 .27 .93 1.13 0.23 2.75 .13 1.57 1.90 1.66 1.80 1.83 2.73 1.00 .OO 3.52
t
E
____
Keeping in good physical condition
Being well liked
Doing something which will make my parents proud of me
7. Being well liked
8. Helping others
9. Having time and means to relax and enjoy life
.._^
_..I-...
______
Becoming an authority on a special subject in my field
Having the time and means to relax and enjoy life
6. Becoming an authority on a special subject in my field
10. Keeping in good physical condition
Becoming happy and content
5. Being well read
Becoming influential affairs
in public
Becoming an expert on finance and commerce
to
to
Obtaining awards and recognition
contribution
contribution
Making a theoretical science
Making a technical science
a useful
in one of
Keeping up-to-date with political affairs
in
inventing or developing product or device
Becoming a community
Becoming accomplished performing arts
Becoming accomplished the performing arts
hard work
Writing good fiction
leader
Avoiding
Avoiding hard work
Finding a real purpose in life
4. Making sacrifices for the happiness of others
good artistic work
Producing
3. Being a good husband
Developing a meaningful philosophy of life
Being a good husband
2. Doing something which will make parents proud of me
Becoming mature and well adjusted person
Being a good parent
Writing good fiction
Males
Becoming an accomplished musician
American
Becoming an accomplished musician
Indian Males
Ten Least Valued Life Goals
Becoming an expert in finance and commerce
American Males
1. Being a good parent
Indian Males
Ten Most Valued Life Goals
TABLE 2 Ten Most and Ten Least Valued Life Goals (Indian vs. American Males)
%
Doing ~mething which will make my parents proud of me
Having the time and means to relax and enjoy life
Being wefl
Keeping
6. Being well read
7. Engaging in exciting and stimutating activit~ea
6. Developing a meaningful pbjto~phy
9, Making sacrifices for others
-___
~~rniflg
6. Inventing or d~eloping a useful device
.._^
_..I-...
10. Doing something which will make my parents proud of me
Becoming a mature and welladjusted person
4. Making a technical contribution to science
_
_.__
_
good physical condition
work
well off financially Producing good
Being
Becoming
Being a good wife
3, Being a good parent
code
good physical conditjon
work Becoming influential in public affairs
Producing good
good fiction
Becoming
hard
Inventing or developing
faking a technical contribution to science
American Females
Ten Least Valued Life Goals Indian Females
hard
Following
Being a good parent
2. Being a good wife
happy and content
Keeping
Finding a real purpose in life
American Females
1, becoming happy and content
Indian Females
Ten Most Vatued Life Goals
TABLE 3 Ten Most and Ten Least Valued Life Goals (Indian Females vs. American Females)
Ten Most
TABLE 4 Ten Most and Ten Least Valued Llfe Goals (Total lndlan vs. American Group)
66
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
2. Personal Happiness: Being happy and content; well adjusted; being good husband/wife. 3. Humanistic-Cultural: Developing a meaningful philosophy; being well read. 4. Religious Goal: Making sacrifices for the others; following a religious code. 5. Scientific Goal: Inventing a useful product; making a theoretical contribution to science. 6. Artistic Goal: Writing good fiction, producing good artistic work. 7. Hedonistic Goal: Being well off financially; having the times and means to enjoy. 8. Altruistic Goal: Helping others in difficulty (exclusively for females) 9. Athletic Goal: Keeping in good physical condition (exclusively for males) The mean, standard deviation and t values are given in Table 5. Except for the scientific goal, there are highly significant differences on the remaining factors. Richards (1966) observed that altruistic goals emerged for females only and atheletic goals only for males during factor analysis. Therefore, no comparison can be done on these goals. Males scored higher on all the factors except artistic and hedonistic goals, where females registered higher mean scores.
DISCUSSION Society, more than the individual, assigns roles to a person according to age and this perhaps affects his/her aspirations and life goals. This possibly holds true for societies all over the world. It may be explained by the developmental changes of human attributes and aptitudes with which society interacts (Raynor, 1978). These changes do occur and no matter how slowly they evolve they bring about new directions. Indian society is undergoing a rapid change under the influence of industrialization and scientific advancement. Traditional patterns of behavior are yielding to new ones (Srinivas, 1980). The agents of cultural imperialism, scientific temper, and modern rationality have acquired tremendous power in post-independence India (Ghosh, 1984; Pathak, 1985; Singh, 1979). As a result, females seem to have revealed more modern attitudes than males. Many investigations (Kaur, 1983; Omvedt, 1980; Sinha, 1980), support this statement. They seem to be more scientifically and technically oriented than one would have expected them to be five or ten years ago. Awareness of a scientific relation between women and technology is a fairly recent one (Jain, 1985). This may be partly due to recent developments with respect to equal opportunities available to females.
23.13 4.53 20.47 3.44 4.63’
29.00 3.49 17.09 3.12 22.90 *
l
21.52 3.04 12.01 2.32 22.64’ l
11.10 2.15 4.66 1.52 23.00”
Humanistic Cultural Religious
significant.
Personal Happiness
*Significant at .OOl level. “Highly
Male (IV) (SD) Female (IV) (Sol t
Prestige Goal 8.19 2.10 7.86 1.95 1.oo
Scientific 9.77 2.82 11.80 2.93 4.61 l
Artistic 10.35 2.40 17.55 2.76 17.14**
Hedonistic
12.90 1.97
Altruistic
19.77 2.64
Athletic
TABLE 5 Mean Values and Standard Deviations of Indian College Students on Various Factors in Life Goals Inventory
68
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
It has been observed by social scientists that certain motivational trends which appear during adolescence, seem to extend beyond this developmental stage. This includes constructive or destructive attitudes towards life, motivation toward and style of achievement, beliefs and values, opinions and convictions, relation to life as a whole, love and other committing relationships, an integration of influential factors, as well as concern for direction, purpose and meaning of life. Interestingly, students both in Indian and American groups give much importance to becoming a good husband/wife and good parents. Havinghurst (1952) places the beginning of marriage and family life among the developmental tasks of early adulthood. Thus, the important life goal of marriage in early adulthood is more socio-culturally than structurally conditioned. Marriage is considered an essential duty in the Indian society (Kakar, 1978; Mead & Singh, 1973; Srinivas, 1980). The psychological as well as educational maturity needed to meet the demands of a committed relationship (providing a living, sustaining and raising a family) are presupposed in our culture. Values of having children are not simple, but seem to result from a complex interaction of large numbers of social, economic, cultural, and possibly biological factors. There appears to be a high degree of concern for the traditional values of being a good wife and mother in both cultures. An earlier study (Mead & Singh, 1973) compared the Indian and American students on their motives for child bearing and found that in both cultures females thought it important to be good mothers and wives. On the basis of such results, Oakley (1974) observed that motherhood and house wifery are inextricably linked for most women and the roles cannot be separated. While comparing males (Mead & Singh, 1973), it was found that in Indian males, 34% of the primary motives for having children were vicarious fulfillment, similar to that expressed by American males, but with one important difference. Whereas Americans discussed fulfillment primarily of avocational motives through their children, Indians overwhelmingly discussed vocational fulfillment through their children, in all cases through their sons. Vicarious fulfillment of occupational goals accounted for 92% of the Indian stories, which expressed this as their major themes, while 80% were concerned with avocational activities. Comparing these percentages with those found in the sample of American males (19 % vocational and 8 1% avocational) and applying the test of the differences between percentages, it was found that the discrepancy between the cultures is a reliable one (t=8.25, p < .Ol). In this investigation as well as in earlier studies (Mead & Singh, 1973; Reddy & Bhatt, 1970), it has been observed that males tend to be more concerned with achievement (prestige goal, personal happiness, scientific attainments, etc.) and with gain in prestige. The world, the educated youth often want to enter, is dominated by technology, work ethics, and
Life Goals
69
professional norms. The modern system envisages a new kind of personality which is achievement oriented, professional, and highly specialized (Pathak, 1985). Men also expect to make more money than women. This may be because society places great financial burden on them as the bread winner of the family. Women on the other hand are more concerned with altruism and personal comfort. They perceive the culmination of their life goals in motherhood which will be associated with social as well as financial security. Similar observations have been made by Kakar (1978), Nandy and Kakar (1979), and Sinha (1980) about Indian youth. Ann Oakley (1974) observed: Men and women have separate positive valuation of their own spheres of activity. As a consequence, women believe that their own labour and resources (both productive and reproductive) have high social values . . . whereas men believe the opposite.
The group has also indicated that they want to do something which will make parents proud of them. In the Indian context, it may be because the attachment to the family is intense and strong. Decisions in the life of a college student are still being made by the parents. Throughout life, demands to conform to other people’s requirements are continuously a pressure upon the individual in our society. Since sex differentiated roles are not as demarcated in American society, American females seem to share the perception of their male counterparts very closely, whereas, in the case of Indian subjects the correlation is not as high between the life goals of female and male subjects. It may be because of the social structure of Indian society, which visualizes different, clearly demarcated roles for men and women (Kakar, 1978; Nandy & Kakar, 1979). Studies (Kakar, 1978; Kaur, 1983; Sinha, 1980) have shown that even though there is a marked change in the attitudes of women towards marriage, husband-wife relationships, aspirations and preferences for career, they are still traditional in their outlook towards life. It should be pointed out that, by and large, the attitudes of Indian women are characterized by ambivalence both to tradition and modernity (Aggarwal, 1986). This is so, perhaps, because traditions take a long time to die and it is convenient to adhere to values which have social sanction rather than to move away from one’s social milieu (Inkeles & Smith, 1974). The above discussion indicates that an individual may absorb and integrate a variety of determining factors into a specific way of life, with specific goals, and purpose in mind. Our results permit us to say that society also influences the goal directed behavior of an individual to some extent. Many different roles begin and end during a person’s lifetime. These changing roles go hand in hand with changing abilities and aptitudes, functions and interests, motives and goals, and accompany the
70
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
changing relationships with other individuals and groups. The different tendencies determine with changing predominance the utilization of a person’s inner and outer potentialities and the availability as well as management of these, determine the attainable goals. We have interpreted the results obtained on this limited sample on the basis of what seemed to be the most probable reasons. However, deciding about one’s life goals is a complex process which needs to be understood both at the macroscopic and microscopic levels and with much larger samples, in diversified cultural situations. REFERENCES AGGARWAL, M. (1986). Education and modernization: A study of Hindu and Muslim women. N. Delhi: Edusearch Publication. ASTIN, A. W., & NICHOLAS, R. C. (1964). Life goals and vocational choice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 48, 50-58. BUHLER, C., & MASSARIK, E (Eds.). (1968). The course of human life: A study of goals in the humanistic personality. New York: Springer Publishing co. ERIKSON, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society. New York: Norton & Co. GHOSH, S. K. (1984). Women in a changing society. New Delhi: Ashish Publication. GORE, M. S. (1977). Indian youth: Process of socialization. New Delhi: Vishva Yuvak Kendra. HAVIGHURST, R. J. (1952). Developmental tasks and education (2nd ed.). New York: Longman, Green & Co. INKELES, A., & SMITH, D. (1974). Becoming modern: Individual change in six developing countries. London: Heihnmann. JAIN, S. C. (1985). Women and technology. Jaipur: Rawat Publication. KAKAR, S. (1978). Identity and adulthood. Delhi: Oxford University Press. KAMAT, A. R. (1983). Essays on social change in India. Bombay: Somaya. KAUR, I. (1983). Status of Hindu women in India. Allahabad: Chugh Publications. MAY, R. (1964). Will, decision and responsibility. New Haven Conference. Quoted in Buhler, C., & Massarik, E (Eds.). (1968). The course of human life: A study of goals in the humanisticpersonality. New York: Springer Publishing co. MEAD, R. D., & SINGH, L. (1973). Motives for child bearing in America and India. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 4, 89-l 10. NANDY, A. & KAKAR, S. (1979). Culture and personality. In Udai Pareek (Ed.), A survey of research in psychology, from 1971-1976 (pp. 141-158). Bombay: Popular Prakashan. OMVEDT, G. (1980). We will smash this prison: Indian women in struggle. New Delhi: Orient Longman. OAKLEY, A. (1974). The sociology of housework. London: Martin Robertson. PATHAK, A. (1985, September 15). The price they pay. The Hindustan Times (magazine section, p. 3).
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Life Goals
E. (1978). Human development: An introduction to the psychodynamics of growth maturity and aging. London: George Allen & Unwin. REDDY, N. M. (1980). Values and attitudes of Indian youth. New Delhi: Light &
RAYNOR,
Life. REDDY, V. C., & BHATT, K. S. (1977). Out of schoolyouth. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers. RICHARDS, J. M. (1966). Life goals of American college freshmen. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 13, 12-20. SINGH, Y. (1979). Social life in ancient India. New Delhi: Light & Life. SINHA, D. (1980). Socialization of the Indian child. New Delhi: Concept Publications. SRINIVAS, M. S. (1980). India: Socialstructure. Delhi: Hindustan Publishers.
ABSTRACT TRANSLATIONS Cent sixante dix etudants c!es Colleges Indiens ont e’te’ adninistrer leurs buts inventaires de la vie pous savoir ce qua les etudiants s’apar$oirent de leurs futve qlant a levs buts vocational_s, socials et personnels. D’apres les echantionage on a observgque les facteurs socials ont responsable dans leers choix de la vie, particulerenent dans les choix des tuts vocationals, Aussi, les resultats indiquent qos les buts pourrait &t-e specific aux gges. 11 est observe’que les e’tudiants d’estiment les buts traditionalonents socio-personnels canme etre, un ton marie on une tonne ‘epouse’ et ‘etre des tons parents’. Une canparison des buts de la vie entre les etudiants Indiens et les etudiants Americans indiquents que les femme Indiennes s’appsr, pivents certains b&s parailles que 1’3 femme Americaines coane “etre we tonne mere” et “etre une tonne Les hcmmes partagent oertains tuts econanics, ‘epouse”. politicals et traditionals avec leurs contre-partie. L’interpretation des resultas a’ gtto’faites quant ‘a les conditions socials et culturels telle qu’ls touch ant les tuts & la vie. (author-supplied abstract) A ciento setenta estudiantes universitarios indios se les entregg un Inventario de Objetivos para la Vida pra explorar la fcrma en la que percl’bian su futvo en lo relative a sus metas vocacionales, sociales y parsonales. En el ejanplo en estudio se observc?qw muchos factores sociales habfan ejercido influencia sobre dichos objetivos para la vi& y prticulatmente sobre las metas vocacionales de 10s estudiantes. Los resultados indicaron, asimisno, que estos objetivos par-a la vida es&n espedficamente relacionados con la edad. Se hall6 que 10s estudiantes valoran
objetivos
tradicionales
socio-person&es
esposo 0 esposaU y %er buen padre”.
tales
axno “ser buen
Una compraci6n entre 10s objetivos para la vida que se han percibido entre 10s estudiantes indios y 10s de 10s estudiantes anericanos indica que las mujeres indias canparten ciertas aspiraciones con sus han&logas americaallas, par ejenplo: %er Lxena madre” y %er Rena esposa”. Los varones indios canparten 10s objetivos econ&icos, politicos y algunos ma’ tradiclonales con 10s mnericanos. Los resultados se han inter~etado en relaci& con las condiciones sociales y cults-ales, ya que estas afectan a 10s objetivos para la vida. (author-supplied abstract 1.
M. K RAINA and ARU~~MA
VATS
ABSTRACT. The Life Goals Inventory was administered to 170 Indian college students to explore how the students perceive their futunz in terms of vocationaL social, and personal goals. Based on results, it wus observed that many social factors have been ~nst~menta~ in ~n~~e~cing the life goals, part~~~ffr~~ the vocational goals of the students. Results a&o indicate that life goals can be ugespecific, Subjects are found to value the traditio~ai so~iai-personal goals like “becoming a good husband or wife” and “becoming good parents.” A comparison of the perceived ri,fegoais of Indian college students with American szudents indicate that Indian females perceive the same goals as their American counterparts, for example, “becoming a good mother”and “becoming a good wife.” Indian males share economic, political, and some tradiiiona~ goals with their American counterparts. Findings have been interpreted in terms of social and ~~tara~ conditions as they affect life goals.
Human beings’ activities are always goal directed. An individual from an early age is able to choose goals. Goal direction is determined by perceptions, however undeveloped they may be at the beginning. Later on, emotional reactions and evaluations also play decisive roles in the individual’s goal setting process. Another forceful impact on the individual’s goal setting process is the social system and cultural ideology of which he is a member and exponent (Buhler & Massarik, 1968). This system and ideology are strong co-determinants of the individu~s group behavior and social roles, opportunities and limitations, and values and beliefs (Erikson, 1963; Kakar, 1978; Raynor, 1978; Srinivas, 1980). An individual’s aptitude and talent may add a specific flavor to this need to become an active member of the group. Social psychology has assembled an enormous body of information on group behavior and social roles. Empirical procedures have disclosed the ways in which, within certain subcultural groups, values and belief patterns are being transmitted from parents to children and goal setting procedures get affected as a result. All through childhood and adolescence, the development of goal setting increases and proceeds in various directions. Several factors have a decisive Requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Arunima Vats, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Sri Aurobindo Marg, New Delhi 110016, India.
58
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
influence on this development. The complexity of the goal setting process is extraordinary. A few studies (Astin & Nicholas, 1964; Reddy, 1980; Richards, 1966) in India and abroad have demonstrated that social values are related to different aspects of human behavior in different ways. Social values play an important role in determining the life goals, aspirations, and level of achievement in culturally significant areas of behavior. Social values have been regarded as strong motivational forces. May (1964) stated that goal orientation gives a meaning and direction to life towards purposeful living, emphasizing the “will” and decision necessary to live this way. Technological developments and consequent social changes may considerably influence life goals. Remarkable influences on various psychological aspects of Indian youth are being noted as a result of technical, economic, and social developments (Gore 1977; Kamat, 1983). It is important to know the impact of these changes on the life orientations of people. They are being increasingly exposed to technological innovations and new ideas of social change. New opportunities have emerged because of political and other structural changes. Therefore, it is plausible that these changes have influenced people to be more activistic and future oriented. Various research studies (Mead & Singh, 1973; Reddy, 1980; Reddy & Bhatt, 1977) have indicated Indian students to be high on: vigorous action, openness to change, prosperity, sociability, helpfulness, community living, high esteem, equality and tolerance, achievement, solving of nation’s problems, self-development, beauty, personal independence, (being) useful citizens, self-reliance, friendship and affection, self-control, and pleasing personality as compared to American students. These studies have also shown that both rural and urban subjects score high on activistic and future-orientation values, whereas they had lower individualistic values and goals. It was also observed in these studies that the subjects were aware of the importance of the future and were also aware of the possibilities of succeeding in building their future. On the other hand, owing to their familistic tendency, their mobility was likely to be impeded. Without mobility, they could not achieve what they wanted. The results of these studies also pointed out that Indian students valued good physical appearance. Another investigation (Reddy, 1980) has yielded that females have more modern attitudes toward life as compared to males. Males have shown preference for political, theoretical, and economic life orientations, while females preferred more aesthetic, religious, and social goals. In the same investigation, it was found that Indian students scored higher on theoretical and political life goals than their American counterparts, whereas, the latter were concerned with religious values. The Indian students scored slightly higher on the economic aspect, whereas, the American students secured slightly higher mean scores
Life Goals
59
on aesthetic and social aspects of life. These differences were, however, nonsignificant. The present study, essentially of an exploratory nature, was undertaken to explore the life goals of Indian college students and to compare these with American undergraduate students’ life goals related to their vocational, social, 2nd personal values. METHOD
Subjects The subjects were 100 female and 70 male undergraduates from different colleges in Chandigarh City, India. The subjects were students majoring in either arts or science fields. Data for comparison, on life goals of American college students, were used from “a large scale project conducted by the American College Testing Programme in an attempt to obtain a more complete account of the typical American College student” (Richards, 1966). The students, both males and females, represented 31 institutions of higher education, including selective liberal arts colleges, state universities, and two year community colleges (Richards, 1966). However, we were conscious of the limitations and dangers in comparing data on a small Indian sample with a very large American sample. Care, therefore, was taken to interpret results with caution and the results obtained here are only of an indicative nature.
Life Gods Inventory The assessment device used to cotlect the data was the Life Goals Inventory. It consists of 35 items pertaining to different goals and aspirations of the students. These specific goals fall into three broad categories: I/ocafional: Such goals include making a theoretical contribution to science; becoming an expert in finance and commerce; writing good fiction, etc. Sociaf: Helping others who are in difficulty; being a good parent; becoming a community leader. Personal: Becoming happy and content; being well liked; following a normal religious code. Each of the 35 specific life goals items was rated by the subjects on a four point scale (of little or no importance, somewhat important, very important, and essential for you). Scores ranging from 1 to 4 were assigned to these responses, so that a high score indicates a high degree of importance.
60
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
RESULTS Mean scores, standard deviations, and t values for Indian and American students on the 35 items are presented in the Table 1. Table 1 indicates that Indian students differ on: inventing or developing a useful device; becoming accomplished in one of the performing arts; becoming a community leader; becoming influential in public affairs; making a technical contribution to science; writing good fiction; becoming an accomplished musician; keeping up-to-date with political affairs; being a good husband or wife; being a good parent; finding a real purpose in life; avoiding hard work and engaging in exciting and stimulating activity. On “obtaining awards or recognition and becoming an expert in finance and commerce,” both males and females scored identically. For the remaining items, differences were not found to be statistically significant. American males and females differ from each other on: inventing a useful device; helping others; becoming an authority on a special subject; doing something to make parents feel proud; becoming an outstanding athelete; making sacrifices for others’ happiness; becoming influential in public affairs; making a theoretical/technical contribution to science; becoming expert in finance; having executive responsibility; being successful in business. On the remaining items, the differences were not found to be statistically significant. Indian and American students were compared on their ten most valued and least valued life goals. Comparisons were done group-wise and for the total group. Tables 2, 3, and 4 contain this information. The results show that Indian males share some of the perceptions about life goals with their American counterparts. Similarly, the table for females and the total group also indicate that some of the Indian students’ ideas about life goals are the same as that of American students. Rank order coefficients of correlations were computed between the responses of Indian and American students. It was found that the coefficient (p) between the perceived life goals of Indian and American males is .60; Indian females and American females is .55, and total groups is .96. American females share the perceptions of American males more closely about goals of life (p=.93) as compared to Indian males and females (p = .47). Further analysis was done to compare the Indian males and females on eight major life goals. These goals were obtained by Richards (1966) after factor analysing the intercorrelations of 35 items of Life Goals Inventory. The factors obtained are: 1. Prestige Goal: Becoming a community leader; becoming influential in community.
z!
1. Becoming happy and content 2. Becoming well off financially 3. Inventing or developing a useful device 4. Helping others who are in di~~ulty 6. Becoming accomplished in the performing arts 6. Developing a meaningful philosophy of life 7. Becoming an authority on a special subject of my field 6. Doing something which will make my parents proud of me 9. Making sacrifices for the sake of the happiness of others 10. Becoming an outstanding athlete 11. Becoming a community leader 12. Becoming influential in public affairs 13. Following a formal religious code 14. Having the time and means to relax and enjoy life 3.04 3.03 2.99 3.36 2.86 2.75 3.45 3.65 3.53 3.03 2.81 2.96 3.05 3.32
Mean
SD .79 .65 .65 91 .80 .60 .31 59 .9t 1.80 .73 .69 53 .46
Indian Males
4.40 2.75 3.13 2.98 2.94 3.07 2.92 3.00 3.02 2.56 2.54 2.74 2.51 2.94
Mean .47 .74 .52 .65 .64 52 .59 .71 52 .68 .96 .78 .96 .68
SD
Indian Females
13.6 3.50 1.758 3.16 .72a 3.20 7.57 5.90 4.72 2.23 1.92a 1 .83a 4.15 3.80
t 3.64 2.94 1.56 2.61 1.52 2.93 2.98 3.06 2.55 1.92 2.11 2.04 2.62 3.22
Mean
.97 .73 .77 ‘82 .83 1.oo SO .85 .83 .97 .86 .89 1.11 .82
SD
American Mates
TABLE 1 Mean Values and Standard Deviations of Indian and American College Students on Life Goals Inventory
3.78 2.78 1.23 2.96 1.72 3.23 2.63 3.34 2.90 1.42 1.95 1.71 2.87 3.33
Mean
.58 .78 .56 .82 .91 .93 -99 .80 .86 .77 .83 .82 1.10 .81
SD
American Females
1.oo .I8 2.75 2.84 1.33 1.76 2.05 2.00 2.33 3.12 1.06 2.20 1.56 .73
t
8
aNot significant.
15. Making a theoretical contribution to science 16. Making a technical contribution to science 17. Writing good fiction 16. Being well read 19. Becoming a mature and well-adjusted person 20. Obtaining awards or recognition 21. Never being obligated to people 22. Keeping in good physical condition 23. Producing good artistic work 24. Becoming an accomplished musician 25. Becoming an expert in finance and commerce 26. Keeping up-to-date with political affairs 27. Being well liked 26. Being a good husband or wife 29. Being a good parent 30. Finding a real purpose in life 31. Being active in religious affairs 32. Having executive responsibility for the work of others 33. Avoidtng hard work 34. Engaging in exciting and stimulating activities 35. Being successful in a business of my own
TABLE 1
SD .64 .66 .77 .43 .70 .60 .59 .41 .81 .83 .90 .82 .43 .24 .23 .59 .62 .74 .97 .76 .58
Mean 3.20 3.21 2.77 3.45 3.27 2.99 3.20 3.32 3.25 2.67 2.55 2.66 3.42 3.62 3.66 3.07 3.00 3.26 2.75 3.08 3.05
Indian Males
Continued
2.88 3.15 2.78 3.13 2.89 2.99 2.86 2.46 2.74 2.63 2.55 2.76 2.84 3.63 3.83 2.88 2.70 2.75 2.55 3.05 2.76
Mean .70 .79 .77 55 .66 .59 .77 1.05 .85 .96 .91 .67 .87 .52 .84 .74 .84 .76 .92 .51 .75
SD
Indian Females
1.62
.50a .07a 4.00 3.16 Oa 3.09 6.14 3.92 .26a B .83a 4.83 .16a .27a 1.72a 2.50 4.41 1.33a .30a 2.63
1.64
2.90
1.44 2.66 3.68 2.19 2.37 3.11 1.44 1.39 1.84 2.58 3.07 3.89 3.75 3.65 2.58 2.39 1.44 2.66 2.68
Mean
t .85 86 -78 .QO .72 .86 .98 .85 .79 .77 .96 ‘86 .80 .68 .64 .69 1.03 .89 .78 .80 1.OQ
SD
American Males
1.27 1.22 1.51 2.94 3.81 1.99 2.32 3.25 1.61 1.42 1.40 2.56 3.29 3.88 3.90 3.83 2.91 1.98 1.31 2.85 2.01
Mean
.84 .90 .76 .73 .88 .76 .47 .44 51 .99 .88 .64 .82 1.08
1.oo
.62 58 .82 .84 .56 .85
SD
American Females
2.84 3.07 $50 1.75 1.18 1.33 .27 .93 1.13 0.23 2.75 .13 1.57 1.90 1.66 1.80 1.83 2.73 1.00 .OO 3.52
t
E
____
Keeping in good physical condition
Being well liked
Doing something which will make my parents proud of me
7. Being well liked
8. Helping others
9. Having time and means to relax and enjoy life
.._^
_..I-...
______
Becoming an authority on a special subject in my field
Having the time and means to relax and enjoy life
6. Becoming an authority on a special subject in my field
10. Keeping in good physical condition
Becoming happy and content
5. Being well read
Becoming influential affairs
in public
Becoming an expert on finance and commerce
to
to
Obtaining awards and recognition
contribution
contribution
Making a theoretical science
Making a technical science
a useful
in one of
Keeping up-to-date with political affairs
in
inventing or developing product or device
Becoming a community
Becoming accomplished performing arts
Becoming accomplished the performing arts
hard work
Writing good fiction
leader
Avoiding
Avoiding hard work
Finding a real purpose in life
4. Making sacrifices for the happiness of others
good artistic work
Producing
3. Being a good husband
Developing a meaningful philosophy of life
Being a good husband
2. Doing something which will make parents proud of me
Becoming mature and well adjusted person
Being a good parent
Writing good fiction
Males
Becoming an accomplished musician
American
Becoming an accomplished musician
Indian Males
Ten Least Valued Life Goals
Becoming an expert in finance and commerce
American Males
1. Being a good parent
Indian Males
Ten Most Valued Life Goals
TABLE 2 Ten Most and Ten Least Valued Life Goals (Indian vs. American Males)
%
Doing ~mething which will make my parents proud of me
Having the time and means to relax and enjoy life
Being wefl
Keeping
6. Being well read
7. Engaging in exciting and stimutating activit~ea
6. Developing a meaningful pbjto~phy
9, Making sacrifices for others
-___
~~rniflg
6. Inventing or d~eloping a useful device
.._^
_..I-...
10. Doing something which will make my parents proud of me
Becoming a mature and welladjusted person
4. Making a technical contribution to science
_
_.__
_
good physical condition
work
well off financially Producing good
Being
Becoming
Being a good wife
3, Being a good parent
code
good physical conditjon
work Becoming influential in public affairs
Producing good
good fiction
Becoming
hard
Inventing or developing
faking a technical contribution to science
American Females
Ten Least Valued Life Goals Indian Females
hard
Following
Being a good parent
2. Being a good wife
happy and content
Keeping
Finding a real purpose in life
American Females
1, becoming happy and content
Indian Females
Ten Most Vatued Life Goals
TABLE 3 Ten Most and Ten Least Valued Life Goals (Indian Females vs. American Females)
Ten Most
TABLE 4 Ten Most and Ten Least Valued Llfe Goals (Total lndlan vs. American Group)
66
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
2. Personal Happiness: Being happy and content; well adjusted; being good husband/wife. 3. Humanistic-Cultural: Developing a meaningful philosophy; being well read. 4. Religious Goal: Making sacrifices for the others; following a religious code. 5. Scientific Goal: Inventing a useful product; making a theoretical contribution to science. 6. Artistic Goal: Writing good fiction, producing good artistic work. 7. Hedonistic Goal: Being well off financially; having the times and means to enjoy. 8. Altruistic Goal: Helping others in difficulty (exclusively for females) 9. Athletic Goal: Keeping in good physical condition (exclusively for males) The mean, standard deviation and t values are given in Table 5. Except for the scientific goal, there are highly significant differences on the remaining factors. Richards (1966) observed that altruistic goals emerged for females only and atheletic goals only for males during factor analysis. Therefore, no comparison can be done on these goals. Males scored higher on all the factors except artistic and hedonistic goals, where females registered higher mean scores.
DISCUSSION Society, more than the individual, assigns roles to a person according to age and this perhaps affects his/her aspirations and life goals. This possibly holds true for societies all over the world. It may be explained by the developmental changes of human attributes and aptitudes with which society interacts (Raynor, 1978). These changes do occur and no matter how slowly they evolve they bring about new directions. Indian society is undergoing a rapid change under the influence of industrialization and scientific advancement. Traditional patterns of behavior are yielding to new ones (Srinivas, 1980). The agents of cultural imperialism, scientific temper, and modern rationality have acquired tremendous power in post-independence India (Ghosh, 1984; Pathak, 1985; Singh, 1979). As a result, females seem to have revealed more modern attitudes than males. Many investigations (Kaur, 1983; Omvedt, 1980; Sinha, 1980), support this statement. They seem to be more scientifically and technically oriented than one would have expected them to be five or ten years ago. Awareness of a scientific relation between women and technology is a fairly recent one (Jain, 1985). This may be partly due to recent developments with respect to equal opportunities available to females.
23.13 4.53 20.47 3.44 4.63’
29.00 3.49 17.09 3.12 22.90 *
l
21.52 3.04 12.01 2.32 22.64’ l
11.10 2.15 4.66 1.52 23.00”
Humanistic Cultural Religious
significant.
Personal Happiness
*Significant at .OOl level. “Highly
Male (IV) (SD) Female (IV) (Sol t
Prestige Goal 8.19 2.10 7.86 1.95 1.oo
Scientific 9.77 2.82 11.80 2.93 4.61 l
Artistic 10.35 2.40 17.55 2.76 17.14**
Hedonistic
12.90 1.97
Altruistic
19.77 2.64
Athletic
TABLE 5 Mean Values and Standard Deviations of Indian College Students on Various Factors in Life Goals Inventory
68
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
It has been observed by social scientists that certain motivational trends which appear during adolescence, seem to extend beyond this developmental stage. This includes constructive or destructive attitudes towards life, motivation toward and style of achievement, beliefs and values, opinions and convictions, relation to life as a whole, love and other committing relationships, an integration of influential factors, as well as concern for direction, purpose and meaning of life. Interestingly, students both in Indian and American groups give much importance to becoming a good husband/wife and good parents. Havinghurst (1952) places the beginning of marriage and family life among the developmental tasks of early adulthood. Thus, the important life goal of marriage in early adulthood is more socio-culturally than structurally conditioned. Marriage is considered an essential duty in the Indian society (Kakar, 1978; Mead & Singh, 1973; Srinivas, 1980). The psychological as well as educational maturity needed to meet the demands of a committed relationship (providing a living, sustaining and raising a family) are presupposed in our culture. Values of having children are not simple, but seem to result from a complex interaction of large numbers of social, economic, cultural, and possibly biological factors. There appears to be a high degree of concern for the traditional values of being a good wife and mother in both cultures. An earlier study (Mead & Singh, 1973) compared the Indian and American students on their motives for child bearing and found that in both cultures females thought it important to be good mothers and wives. On the basis of such results, Oakley (1974) observed that motherhood and house wifery are inextricably linked for most women and the roles cannot be separated. While comparing males (Mead & Singh, 1973), it was found that in Indian males, 34% of the primary motives for having children were vicarious fulfillment, similar to that expressed by American males, but with one important difference. Whereas Americans discussed fulfillment primarily of avocational motives through their children, Indians overwhelmingly discussed vocational fulfillment through their children, in all cases through their sons. Vicarious fulfillment of occupational goals accounted for 92% of the Indian stories, which expressed this as their major themes, while 80% were concerned with avocational activities. Comparing these percentages with those found in the sample of American males (19 % vocational and 8 1% avocational) and applying the test of the differences between percentages, it was found that the discrepancy between the cultures is a reliable one (t=8.25, p < .Ol). In this investigation as well as in earlier studies (Mead & Singh, 1973; Reddy & Bhatt, 1970), it has been observed that males tend to be more concerned with achievement (prestige goal, personal happiness, scientific attainments, etc.) and with gain in prestige. The world, the educated youth often want to enter, is dominated by technology, work ethics, and
Life Goals
69
professional norms. The modern system envisages a new kind of personality which is achievement oriented, professional, and highly specialized (Pathak, 1985). Men also expect to make more money than women. This may be because society places great financial burden on them as the bread winner of the family. Women on the other hand are more concerned with altruism and personal comfort. They perceive the culmination of their life goals in motherhood which will be associated with social as well as financial security. Similar observations have been made by Kakar (1978), Nandy and Kakar (1979), and Sinha (1980) about Indian youth. Ann Oakley (1974) observed: Men and women have separate positive valuation of their own spheres of activity. As a consequence, women believe that their own labour and resources (both productive and reproductive) have high social values . . . whereas men believe the opposite.
The group has also indicated that they want to do something which will make parents proud of them. In the Indian context, it may be because the attachment to the family is intense and strong. Decisions in the life of a college student are still being made by the parents. Throughout life, demands to conform to other people’s requirements are continuously a pressure upon the individual in our society. Since sex differentiated roles are not as demarcated in American society, American females seem to share the perception of their male counterparts very closely, whereas, in the case of Indian subjects the correlation is not as high between the life goals of female and male subjects. It may be because of the social structure of Indian society, which visualizes different, clearly demarcated roles for men and women (Kakar, 1978; Nandy & Kakar, 1979). Studies (Kakar, 1978; Kaur, 1983; Sinha, 1980) have shown that even though there is a marked change in the attitudes of women towards marriage, husband-wife relationships, aspirations and preferences for career, they are still traditional in their outlook towards life. It should be pointed out that, by and large, the attitudes of Indian women are characterized by ambivalence both to tradition and modernity (Aggarwal, 1986). This is so, perhaps, because traditions take a long time to die and it is convenient to adhere to values which have social sanction rather than to move away from one’s social milieu (Inkeles & Smith, 1974). The above discussion indicates that an individual may absorb and integrate a variety of determining factors into a specific way of life, with specific goals, and purpose in mind. Our results permit us to say that society also influences the goal directed behavior of an individual to some extent. Many different roles begin and end during a person’s lifetime. These changing roles go hand in hand with changing abilities and aptitudes, functions and interests, motives and goals, and accompany the
70
M. K. Raina and A. Vats
changing relationships with other individuals and groups. The different tendencies determine with changing predominance the utilization of a person’s inner and outer potentialities and the availability as well as management of these, determine the attainable goals. We have interpreted the results obtained on this limited sample on the basis of what seemed to be the most probable reasons. However, deciding about one’s life goals is a complex process which needs to be understood both at the macroscopic and microscopic levels and with much larger samples, in diversified cultural situations. REFERENCES AGGARWAL, M. (1986). Education and modernization: A study of Hindu and Muslim women. N. Delhi: Edusearch Publication. ASTIN, A. W., & NICHOLAS, R. C. (1964). Life goals and vocational choice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 48, 50-58. BUHLER, C., & MASSARIK, E (Eds.). (1968). The course of human life: A study of goals in the humanistic personality. New York: Springer Publishing co. ERIKSON, E. H. (1963). Childhood and society. New York: Norton & Co. GHOSH, S. K. (1984). Women in a changing society. New Delhi: Ashish Publication. GORE, M. S. (1977). Indian youth: Process of socialization. New Delhi: Vishva Yuvak Kendra. HAVIGHURST, R. J. (1952). Developmental tasks and education (2nd ed.). New York: Longman, Green & Co. INKELES, A., & SMITH, D. (1974). Becoming modern: Individual change in six developing countries. London: Heihnmann. JAIN, S. C. (1985). Women and technology. Jaipur: Rawat Publication. KAKAR, S. (1978). Identity and adulthood. Delhi: Oxford University Press. KAMAT, A. R. (1983). Essays on social change in India. Bombay: Somaya. KAUR, I. (1983). Status of Hindu women in India. Allahabad: Chugh Publications. MAY, R. (1964). Will, decision and responsibility. New Haven Conference. Quoted in Buhler, C., & Massarik, E (Eds.). (1968). The course of human life: A study of goals in the humanisticpersonality. New York: Springer Publishing co. MEAD, R. D., & SINGH, L. (1973). Motives for child bearing in America and India. Journal of Cross Cultural Psychology, 4, 89-l 10. NANDY, A. & KAKAR, S. (1979). Culture and personality. In Udai Pareek (Ed.), A survey of research in psychology, from 1971-1976 (pp. 141-158). Bombay: Popular Prakashan. OMVEDT, G. (1980). We will smash this prison: Indian women in struggle. New Delhi: Orient Longman. OAKLEY, A. (1974). The sociology of housework. London: Martin Robertson. PATHAK, A. (1985, September 15). The price they pay. The Hindustan Times (magazine section, p. 3).
71
Life Goals
E. (1978). Human development: An introduction to the psychodynamics of growth maturity and aging. London: George Allen & Unwin. REDDY, N. M. (1980). Values and attitudes of Indian youth. New Delhi: Light &
RAYNOR,
Life. REDDY, V. C., & BHATT, K. S. (1977). Out of schoolyouth. New Delhi: Sterling Publishers. RICHARDS, J. M. (1966). Life goals of American college freshmen. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 13, 12-20. SINGH, Y. (1979). Social life in ancient India. New Delhi: Light & Life. SINHA, D. (1980). Socialization of the Indian child. New Delhi: Concept Publications. SRINIVAS, M. S. (1980). India: Socialstructure. Delhi: Hindustan Publishers.
ABSTRACT TRANSLATIONS Cent sixante dix etudants c!es Colleges Indiens ont e’te’ adninistrer leurs buts inventaires de la vie pous savoir ce qua les etudiants s’apar$oirent de leurs futve qlant a levs buts vocational_s, socials et personnels. D’apres les echantionage on a observgque les facteurs socials ont responsable dans leers choix de la vie, particulerenent dans les choix des tuts vocationals, Aussi, les resultats indiquent qos les buts pourrait &t-e specific aux gges. 11 est observe’que les e’tudiants d’estiment les buts traditionalonents socio-personnels canme etre, un ton marie on une tonne ‘epouse’ et ‘etre des tons parents’. Une canparison des buts de la vie entre les etudiants Indiens et les etudiants Americans indiquents que les femme Indiennes s’appsr, pivents certains b&s parailles que 1’3 femme Americaines coane “etre we tonne mere” et “etre une tonne Les hcmmes partagent oertains tuts econanics, ‘epouse”. politicals et traditionals avec leurs contre-partie. L’interpretation des resultas a’ gtto’faites quant ‘a les conditions socials et culturels telle qu’ls touch ant les tuts & la vie. (author-supplied abstract) A ciento setenta estudiantes universitarios indios se les entregg un Inventario de Objetivos para la Vida pra explorar la fcrma en la que percl’bian su futvo en lo relative a sus metas vocacionales, sociales y parsonales. En el ejanplo en estudio se observc?qw muchos factores sociales habfan ejercido influencia sobre dichos objetivos para la vi& y prticulatmente sobre las metas vocacionales de 10s estudiantes. Los resultados indicaron, asimisno, que estos objetivos par-a la vida es&n espedficamente relacionados con la edad. Se hall6 que 10s estudiantes valoran
objetivos
tradicionales
socio-person&es
esposo 0 esposaU y %er buen padre”.
tales
axno “ser buen
Una compraci6n entre 10s objetivos para la vida que se han percibido entre 10s estudiantes indios y 10s de 10s estudiantes anericanos indica que las mujeres indias canparten ciertas aspiraciones con sus han&logas americaallas, par ejenplo: %er Lxena madre” y %er Rena esposa”. Los varones indios canparten 10s objetivos econ&icos, politicos y algunos ma’ tradiclonales con 10s mnericanos. Los resultados se han inter~etado en relaci& con las condiciones sociales y cults-ales, ya que estas afectan a 10s objetivos para la vida. (author-supplied abstract 1.