The ending of high school years is a critical time for most young people. It is a period when significant developmental tasks confront the adolescent; these tasks, if mastered, contribute to healthy and satisfactory growth into adulthood. Self-esteem, locus of control, and attitudes toward work, community, and family orientations are especially important and subject to change at this developmental stage. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 were used to generate group profiles, means, and standard deviations on self-esteem, locus of control, and the three life goals scales for respondents differing in terms of ability level, ethnicity, and post-high school activities. There are predictable differences among subgroups on each of the psychological attribute profiles and these differences were evident at the initial assessment. Demographic differences persisted unmodified by intervening experiences; this may be due partly to a heterogeneity of experiences within demographic classifications which might tend to diminish differences over a long period of time, but not over a short-term interval. The subgroups showing the greatest changes in profiles appear to be those undergoing the greatest changes in activites--from working to seeking employment, from working to homemaking, etc. (Author/EVH)