Adolescents’ Future Orientation in Time and Place: The Case of the Israeli Kibbutz

Abstract

This study examined the effect of changing social circumstances on adolescents’ future orientation. Focusing on the recent kibbutz crisis, the future orientation of two cohorts of kibbutz and urban boys and girls ( N 438) who were high school seniors in 1984 and 1992 was analysed. Results partly supported cohort, gender, and cohort by setting effects in adolescents’ future orientation, indicating that: (1) the 1992 cohort invested more in constructing prospective domains pertaining to adulthood ( work and career, marriage and family) and less in military service; (2) the tendency of Israeli adolescents to construe a sex-typed future orientation was stable over time; and (3) that the 1992 kibbutz cohort increased its investment in work and career more than did the 1992 urban cohort. Results were explained in terms of the adaptability of adolescent future orientation to changing social circumstances, and in terms of Heckhausen’s (1977) principle of least necessary expenditure.