Students' attitudes toward university health services

This study measured students' attitudes toward a university's student health services (SHS) and identified factors that were related to their attitudes. A questionnaire surveying students' attitudes was administered to a sample of 150 students at the Oxford Campus of the University of Mississippi. Analysis of the data revealed that students' attitudes had a statistically significant correlation with the following variables: perceived medical care cost, amount of health information/education received during medical encounters, time spent in the waiting room of the SHS, sex of the student, and income of the student. There was no significant relationship between attitude and age.     

The changing intercaste attitudes in North India: A follow-up after four years

Since independence, the government of India, through various constitutional and legislative measures, has tried to root out the evils of the caste system. In order to study the effect of these measures and of various socioeconomic changes on intercaste attitudes, a study of intercaste attitudes conducted by the author in 1968 is used as a baseline to study the changes over the four-year period. The responses to the 15 items compared deal with general caste attitudes, attitudes toward special privileges for the scheduled castes and, the caste Hindus' attitudes toward Harijans (former ‘untouchables’). The comparison of the responses to these items in 1968 and 1972 (the follow-up study) indicates that a higher percentage of respondents gave liberal responses in 1972 than in 1968 to the questions dealing with public and peripheral areas of interaction. However, very little change was found in those spheres of interaction which are relatively personal and central or involve intimate interaction, e.g., the theory of Karma, attitude toward the caste system as such and attitudes toward dining with or acceptance of food from Harijans. The results lend further support to the ‘cognitive imbalance’ theory of attitude change.     

Crossing the Threshold: Men's Incomes,Attitudes Toward the Provider Role,and Marriage Timing

The later marriages of recent cohorts have been attributed, in part, to men's declining real wages and women's preferences for high-earning mates. This study was designed to investigate the influence of men's gender role attitudes and income on their entrance into marriage. Data come from the longitudinal High School and Beyond survey. The results show that if men anticipated being the primary economic provider in their marriages, their incomes predicted their likelihood of marriage. Income had little effect on marriage for men who expected to share the provider role. The findings indicate that the relationship between men's income and marriage is influenced by their gender role attitudes.     

Not Such a Queer Idea: Is There a Case for Same Sex Marriages?

Gay marriages (as such) are not as yet allowed anywhere but the demand for them is increasing. Most countries take a liberal attitude towards marriage: few obstacles are put in its way. But objections to gay marriages continue to be raised. These objections are refuted and the case for gay marriage is assessed through the prism of various forms of liberalism. The normative argument for allowing gay marriage is shown to be both strong and consistent with many of the values upheld by the opponents of such unions.     

Personal and socio-economic variables in relation with attitudes towards planned family

The study purpose was to examine the relationships between various personal, demographic and socioeconomic variables and attitude towards family planning on a large sample. The sample included 300 cases, representing urban and rural and male and female compositions of the population of Agra District. The Attitude Towards Family Planning (ATFP) Scale by Kapoor (1973) was used to assess the attitudes toward family planning. Age had no relationship with attitude towards family planning but education and income had substantial positive relationships (r=.56 and .40, respectively, significant at .01 level), followed by occupation showing the higher the socioeconomic status of the respondent the more favorable the attitude. Family size was found to be inversely related with attitude, indicating respondents having more children may not have favorable attitudes. This was more the case with the female sex of the child.     

Social status,cognitive ability,and educational attainment as predictors of liberal social attitudes and political trust

We examined the prospective associations between family socio-economic background, childhood intelligence (g) at age 11, educational and occupational attainment, and social attitudes at age 33 in a large (N = 8804), representative sample of the British population born in 1958. Structural equation Modeling identified a latent trait of ‘liberal social attitudes’ underlying attitude factors that are antiracist, socially liberal, and in support of gender equality. Another attitude factor—‘political trust’—was relatively independent from the latent attitude trait and has somewhat different pathways in relation to the other variables included in the analysis. There was a direct association between higher g at age 11 and more liberal social attitudes and political trust at age 33. For both men and women the association between g and liberal social attitudes was partly mediated via educational qualifications, and to a much lesser extent via adult occupational attainment. For women the association between g and political trust was partly mediated through both educational qualification and occupational attainment, and for men it was mediated mainly via occupational attainment. Men and women who had higher educational qualifications and higher occupational status tend to be more socially liberal and more trusting of the democratic political system. In terms of socio-economic background, people from less privileged families showed less political trust, but did not differ much in liberal social attitudes from those born into relatively more privileged circumstances. This study shows that social background, cognitive ability, education, and own social status influence perceptions of society.     

FACTORS INFLUENCING CANADIAN HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS' CAREER MOTIVATION

The need to prepare adolescent girls for the reality of labor market participation prompted this study investigating the factors influencing female career motivation. Questionnaires were completed by 317 female students from grades 8, 10, and 12. Four criterion variables were used to assess overall career motivation: career commitment, occupational aspirations, educational aspirations, and vocational certainty. The relation–ship between the criterion measures and a set of predictor variables (socioeconomic status, school marks, grade level, masculine/feminine trait dimensions, attitudes toward women, and marriage/family commitment) was explored. A canonical correlation analysis, used to test the relationship between the predictor and criterion variables, revealed two significant sets of relationships. First, girls who obtained higher marks in school, identified with either masculine or androgynous trait dispositions, had more liberal attitudes toward women, and were from higher socioeconomic backgrounds aspired to higher levels of education, were more highly committed to a career, and aspired to more highly prestigious occupations. The second relationship showed that older girls from a lower socioeconomic background with high commitment to marriage and a family have high career commitment and certainty about their careers, yet lower educational and occupational aspirations. The study highlights the importance of (a) examining career and family commitment independently, (b) studying the impact of psychological variables on career motivation, and (c) combining a number of factors to represent career motivation.     

Attitudes Toward Homosexuals Among Students at a Canadian University

We examined attitudes toward homosexuals amonga broad selection of undergraduates (101 men, 98 women)attending a Canadian university, where a vast majorityof the students are from working- or middle-class families of European descent. Attitudes towardgay men were more negative than attitudes towardlesbians. Compared to Science or Business students,students in the faculties of Arts or Social Science had more positive attitudes toward gay men, andwomen were more positive than men. Attitudes toward gaymen also improved with time spent at college, but onlyfor male students. Although attitudes toward lesbians improved with time at college, they were notassociated with students' gender or faculty ofenrollment. Thus, a college education may promote areduction in anti-homosexual prejudice among youngpeople, particularly among young men.     

Why Do People Save? Attitudes to,and Habits of Saving Money in Britain

This study investigates the relationship between demographic (age, sex, education, vote, and income), psychological beliefs (alienation, Protestant Work Ethic, and conservatism), and attitudes toward, as well as habits of, saving money, in Britain. Over 250 people from a variety of backgrounds completed a number of standardized self-report measures. A factor analysis of the attitude toward saving scale revealed five clearly interpretable factors, which were later computed into five subscale scores. Analysis of variance showed that age and education most differentiated subjects' attitudes toward saving. A canonical correlational analysis showed age, vote, income, and alienation were clearly related to various attitude toward saving factors. Analysis of the saving habits questionnaire showed that sex, age, and income were among the most important discriminators of saving habits. These results are discussed in terms of economic socialization and various social policy decisions are considered.     

SARS危机下网民的情绪状况及其影响因素

通过网络调查的方式 ,采用POMS SF和EPQ RSC问卷以及针对SARS流行的自编题目 ,对 1 85名上网民众进行了调查 ,以了解SARS危机下民众的情绪状况 ,探讨形成不同情绪状况的影响因素。结果发现有大约一半(50 .8% )的被试POMS SF总分在 3 0分以下 ;在SARS危机下 ,人格类型、教育程度、经济收入及其评价、婚姻、地区 (疫区与非疫区 )、年龄等方面的差异影响着人们的情绪状况。研究认为我国大多数网民在SARS威胁下情绪状况基本保持良好 ;对SARS压力的心理控制感、人格类型、社会支持上的差异可能是导致人们出现不同情绪状况的原因。     

Attitudes and adolescent nonmarital childbearing: evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth

The 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) provided data for the analysis of the impact of self-esteem, locus of control, attitudes towards women's family roles, work, and school on the probability of a nonmarital birth. The study avoided methodological problems of prior studies by using a national data base with attitude measured before nonmarital childbearing occurs. No prior studies included these 5 factors. Previous research on attitudes and nonmarital childbearing is summarized. Theoretical models imply that self-esteem, high educational goals, and an internal locus of control are associated with a lower likelihood of a nonmarital birth. The conceptual model for this study is described. It does not include how attitudes develop or estimate the linkage between family background variables and attitudes. A reduced from approach was used and controls were included for 6 family background and personal variables. The sample of 1184 girls was restricted to those aged 14 or 15 years in 1979 who were never married or had a child. 16.9% of the sample had a nonmarital child by 19 years. Measurement of explanatory variables is indicated as the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale and the Rotter scale for internal-external locus of control. A 7-item scale measured women's roles, an 8-item scale measured attitudes toward school, and 3 items assessed views on the importance of improving one's employment prospects. Background control variables were race/ethnicity, mother's education, presence of welfare income, family income, family structure, and religiosity. The standard logistics technique was used to estimate the logarithm of the odds of having a nonmarital birth as a linear function of both attitude and family background variables. Models were estimated both with and without the educational expectation variable. The results appear to indicate that self-esteem and attitudes toward school are associated with nonmarital childbearing, as predicted by theory. Locus of control does not systematically affect the likelihood of nonmarital childbearing, nor do family and gender roles and attitudes toward work. Educational expectations are not associated, but may act as an intervening variable.     

Socio-ecological influences of attitudes toward disability among Kenyan undergraduate students

This study examined personal and contextual variables as predictors of attitudes toward disability at a Kenyan higher education setting. Participants were a convenience sample of 309 undergraduate students at a Kenyan university enrolled in Sociology, Social Work, Psychology, Political Science, and Public Administration majors. Data on attitudes were collected using the Attitudes Towards Disabled Persons scale (ATDP: Antonac & Livneh, 1988). A cross-sectional survey design was employed for data collection, and a multiple regression analysis was used for data analysis. Results revealed that the model was significant: F (9, 250)?=?2.784, p?=?0.004. However, only age (β?=?0.173, p?=?0.044) significantly predicted attitudes towards disability, indicating older students held more positive attitudes than their younger counterparts. Older students had a more favourable attitude towards people with disabilities than younger students. Seniority, by age, is highly valued in Africa than perhaps anywhere in the world. Kenyan older adults may be key to enhancing favourable attitudes toward individuals with disabilities in Kenya as well as interventions aimed at changing negative attitudes towards people with disabilities.     

Individual attitudes and perceived social norms: Reports on HIV/AIDS‐related stigma among service providers in China

This study examined HIV/AIDS‐related stigma among Chinese service providers by comparing their personal attitudes toward people living with HIV/AIDS with their perception of social norms related to people living with HIV/AIDS. We randomly selected three provincial hospitals, four city/prefecture hospitals, 10 county hospitals, 18 township health clinics, and 54 village clinics from Yunnan, China. Doctors and nurses were randomly sampled proportionally to the doctor–nurse ratio of each hospital or clinic. Lab technicians were over‐sampled in order to include an adequate representation in the analysis. A total of 1,101 service providers participated in a voluntary, anonymous survey where demographic characteristics, individual attitude and perceived social norms toward people living with HIV/AIDS, discrimination intent at work, general prejudicial attitude and knowledge on HIV/AIDS were measured. A majority of the sample demonstrated a similarity between their personal views and what they thought most people in society believe. Multiple logistic regressions revealed that participants who were younger or reported personal contact with people living with HIV/AIDS were significantly more likely to report personal attitudes toward the population that were more liberal than their perceived social norms. Holding a more liberal personal attitude toward people living with HIV/AIDS than perceived social norms was significantly and negatively related to the level of discrimination intent at work, perceived discrimination at interpersonal level and the level of general prejudicial attitude toward people living with HIV/AIDS. Results underscored the importance of understanding social norms and personal attitudes in studying HIV‐related stigma and called for the incorporation of existing human capital into future HIV stigma reduction programs.     

“My Family Would Crucify Me!”: The Perceived Influence of Social Pressure on Cross-Cultural and Interfaith Dating and Marriage

The present study examined the perceived influence of parental and social pressure on individuals’ perceptions regarding cross-cultural and interfaith dating and marriage. The questions of interest were: (1) What is the influence of parental attitudes towards interfaith and cross-cultural relationships? (2) How do the participants feel it impacts upon them? And lastly, (3) How do the participants predict they will respond to their children’s choice of such relationships? Fifty-five university students with diverse backgrounds participated in this study. The findings indicate that the majority of the participants were influenced by the social pressure put upon them. Moreover, the participants perceived the previous generation as “racist”. However, interestingly there are signs of a generational attitude shift. Finally, the findings show that over 80 % of the participants did not want to interfere in their children’s partner selection. The remaining 20 % were against interfaith and cross-cultural dating and marriages.     

How Do Chinese Public Service Professional Trainees Attribute Responsibility to Victims and Perpetrators of Violence Against Women?

Two-hundred-and-twenty-five Chinese human service professional trainees (80 police trainees, 45 medical students, and 100 nursing students) participated in a study on responsibility attribution to violence against women (VAW). Results showed that compared to medical students and police trainees, nursing students had broader definitions of VAW, endorsed more liberal attitudes toward women, and perceived VAW as more prevalent and having more negative effects on the victims and society. Compared to police trainees, medical and nursing students assigned greater responsibility to VAW perpetrators. However, there was no group difference in the attribution of responsibility to VAW victims. Among the predictor variables for a low level of responsibility attribution to the victims, liberal attitude toward women was the only significant predictor. For a low level of responsibility attribution to the perpetrators, the most salient predictors were being police trainees and perceiving VAW as having little negative effects on the victims. Limitations and implications of the study will also be discussed.     

cluster types of attitudes toward multiple role planning of single,korean, female undergraduates

The current study explored the attitudes that single, Korean, female college students have toward multiple role planning. Cluster groups among the participants were identified by their scores on the Korean language version (Yang, 1997) of the Attitudes Toward Multiple Role Planning (ATMRP; Weitzman, 1992) measure, and significant differences in career‐ and marriage‐related variables were also examined. Five clusters were derived using cluster analysis based on participants' scores on the ATMRP. Significant differences among clusters were found on career‐ and marriage‐related variables. This study contributes to the understanding of various patterns in attitudes toward multiple roles and suggests effective interventions for each group in the career decision‐making process.     

The Young and the Restless? The Liberalization of Young Evangelicals

This study examines popular and scholarly perceptions that young American evangelicals are becoming more liberal than older evangelicals. Young evangelicals are more likely to have more liberal attitudes on same‐sex marriage, premarital sex, cohabitating, and pornography, but not abortion. This analysis is situated within the theoretical context of emerging adulthood, and considers higher education, delayed marriage, and shifts in moral authority as potential mediating factors accounting for age differences. A new method for operationalizing evangelical as a religious identity is suggested and three different classification schemes are examined: religious tradition, self‐identified evangelicals, and theologically conservative Protestants. The data come from the 2006 Panel Study of American Religion and Ethnicity.     

Interfaith marriage attitudes in Muslim majority countries: A multilevel approach

ABSTRACT

This research uses multilevel structural equation modeling to examine Muslims’ attitudes toward interfaith marriage with Christians in 22 countries with a Muslim majority population (N = 21,373). Attitudes toward interfaith marriage, for sons and daughters separately, were measured with single items, and three binary items were used to measure participants’ religious beliefs. Overall attitudes were negative and more negative toward marriage of one’s daughter compared to one’s son. Stronger religious belief was associated with more negative attitudes, but less so for Muslims who perceived more similarities than differences between Islam and Christianity. Perceived religious similarity was associated with more positive attitudes. The proportion of Christians in a country was not associated with interfaith marriage attitudes. However, the association between belief and attitude was found to differ considerably across countries.     

Sexual behavior, drugs, and relationship patterns on a college campus over thirteen years

Three samples of college students at a small New England liberal arts college received questionnaires regarding their sexual philosophies, behavior, relationship with most recent partner, self-perceived attractiveness, relationship with parents, use of drugs and alcohol, attitudes toward marriage and abortion, and other subjects. The college was sampled in 1974, 1979, and 1986. Sexual behavior increased dramatically from 1974 to 1979 and then decreased in 1986 to approximately where it was in 1974. The reason for this change, and findings regarding the relationships between sexual behavior and many of the variables cited above are discussed.