THE STUDY FOLLOWED THE COLLEGE AND NONCOLLEGE CAREERS OF 10,000 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES FOR FOUR YEARS THROUGH PATTERNS OF WORK, COLLEGE, AND MARRIAGE, AND FOCUSED ON THE IMPACT OF COLLEGE VERSUS EMPLOYMENT ON CHANGE OF VALUES AND ATTITUDES. EVENTUAL COLLEGE PERSISTERS DID NOT DIFFER WIDELY FROM THEIR CLASSMATES ON PERSONALITY SCALES ADMINISTERED IN 1959, BUT BY 1963, WERE MORE INTELLECTUAL AND FAR MORE AUTONOMOUS, AS MEASURED BY THE OMNIBUS PERSONALITY INVENTORY SCALES USED. THOSE WHO DID NOT ATTEND COLLEGE REGRESSED IN INTELLECTUAL INTERESTS AND AUTONOMY, AND THOSE WHO WITHDREW WITHIN THREE YEARS FELL BETWEEN THE OTHER TWO GROUPS. THE EVIDENCE WAS STRONG THAT THE LONGER THE PERSISTENCE IN COLLEGE, THE GREATER THE GROWTH IN MEASURED INTELLECTUALITY AND AUTONOMY. LEVEL OF ABILITY WAS RELATED TO ENTRANCE INTO COLLEGE, BUT LESS THAN SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS. MARKED DIFFERENCES IN ACADEMIC MOTIVATION AND PARENTAL ENCOURAGEMENT ALSO DISTINGUISHED COLLEGE ATTENDERS FROM NONATTENDERS. MANY MORE ATTENDERS, WHILE STILL HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS, FELT THAT COLLEGE WAS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT, AND MORE THAN TWICE AS MANY ATTENDERS AS NONATTENDERS REPORTED PARENTAL ENCOURAGEMENT TO ENROLL. MOST OF THE YOUNG PEOPLE IDENTIFIED, RELIGIOUSLY AND POLITICALLY, WITH THEIR PARENTS AND SEEMED AS CONFORMING AND UNCRITICAL OF EXISTING SOCIAL NORMS AS PREVIOUS GENERATIONS OF STUDENTS. (AUTHOR)