Washington — Members of the current generation of high-school seniors are more likely than their parents to be taking mathematics, heading off to a four-year college, and contemplating graduate school, according to a report released this week by the Education Department’s statistical arm.

The report, issued on Tuesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, surveys the background and expectations of high-school seniors from 1972 to 2004.

According to the report, the number of seniors planning to attend a four-year college increased from 34 to 61 percent over that 32-year span. Meanwhile, the proportion who expected to get graduate or professional degrees also increased, from 13 percent to 38 percent. The share planning to work full time in the year after college shrank, from 32 percent to 19 percent.

The report also reviews changes in the expectations of men and women. In 1972, 16 percent of men expected to receive graduate degrees, compared with 9 percent of women. Nowadays, 45 percent of women expect to earn graduate degrees, compared with 32 percent of men. Participation in math and science has also changed, with more students taking advanced courses like calculus, and fewer taking no math or science in their senior year.

The 2004 crop of seniors was also more diverse than its 1972 counterparts. In 1972, 86 percent of seniors were white, compared with 62 percent in 2004. The largest net change was among Hispanic students, whose share of the high-school senior population went from 4 percent to 15 percent. The report also details the students’ ethnicity and socioeconomic status, senior-year courses, extracurricular activities, and plans for the future. —Ingrid Norton