A study charted family, school, workplace, and community experiences that are relevant to the vocational development of high school students, focusing on five areas of influence: allowance practices within the family, economic status, paid work experience, volunteerism, and gender differences. The data were from the "Youth Development Study," a 4-year longitudinal study in which questionnaires were distributed in St. Paul, Minnesota, classrooms each year in grades 9-12. Study findings were as follows: (1) receipt of an allowance increases adolescents' interest in money; (2) poor and nonpoor students hold similar occupational aspirations, but poor adolescents have lower feelings of economic self-efficacy regarding future vocational goals; (3) the quality of the work experience, rather than employment status or the number of hours worked, significantly affects occupational value formation (the opportunity to acquire skills on the job strengthens adolescents' intrinsic orientations toward work); (4) participation in volunteer activity affects intrinsic and person-oriented work values among boys and enhances feelings of self-esteem among girls; and (5) gender differences concerning future family plans and in feelings of economic self-efficacy have important consequences for the development of vocational skills and the ultimate achievement of vocational goals (girls exceed boys in their aspirations regarding occupational attainments). (Contains 120 references.) (CML)