Paths of Generation: Longitudinal Comparative Study of Secondary School Graduates in Different Regions of the Former Soviet Union--Stage 1, 1983

The purpose of this study was to investigate the social determinants of the integration of youth into adult social life in different regions of the former Soviet Union. To this end, graduating secondary school students were queried about their schooling, extracurricular activities, and plans for the future. Questions about schooling included evaluations of school choice and the effectiveness of schooling, as well as self-reporting of marks and abilities in various areas. Items relating to extracurricular activities covered family status and property, preferred activities during spare time, interests, values, and friends. Information concerning plans for the future was elicited through questions that probed for intended educational and occupational pathways, ideas about the preferred pathways, comparisons of these plans with parents' wishes, and the advice of friends and counselors. Additional information gathered by the survey includes age, gender, self-reported health status, consumption of cigarettes and alcohol, age at onset of sexual relations, height, weight, urban status of place of birth, type of secondary education, parents' occupations and education, and number of siblings.