ATTITUDES TOWARD PROSTITUTION AS A FUNCTION OF ATTITUDES TOWARD FEMINISM IN COLLEGE STUDENTS

Eighty-nine male and female undergraduates completed the Attitudes toward Feminism Scale and the author-devised Attitudes Toward Prostitution Scale, which contained five factors. Profeminist attitudes were related to three out of five factors. Respondents scoring in a profeminist direction were more likely to view prostitution as reflecting exploitation and subordination of women, less likely to believe women become prostitutes out of economic necessity, and less likely to approve of decriminalization and legalization of prostitution. Gender differences also appeared that were not explained by differences in profeminist attitudes: women were more likely than men to disagree with decriminalization and legalization efforts and were more likely to view prostitution as reflecting exploitation and subordination.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN MEDIATE THE GENDER EFFECT ON ATTITUDES TOWARD SEXIST LANGUAGE

Studies of attitudes toward sexist language have consistently revealed a gender gap, with women considerably more supportive of inclusive language than men. The present study investigated this gender gap in the presence of "attitudes toward women," a potential mediator variable. Participants were a convenience sample of 18- to 20-year-old college students ( N = 278). Most were European American/White (87%) women (60%). Data were collected using the Modern Sexism Scale, Neosexism Scale, Attitudes Toward Women Scale, and Inventory of Attitudes Toward Sexist/Nonsexist Language-General. The customary gender gap in attitudes toward sexist language was found in this sample. Regression tests of mediation, however, revealed that when measures of attitudes toward women were included in the analysis, the gender effect diminished by as much as 61% ( p <.01). These findings provide empirical evidence of a link between attitudes toward sexist language and the cultural construct, attitudes toward women.     

FEMINIST ATTITUDES TOWARD PORNOGRAPHY CONTROL

Feminist attitudes toward legislative control of pornography were investigated. A sample of 119 recipients of the National Organization of Women Newsletter in a Southern California community responded to a questionnaire assessing variables expected to be related to pornography control: demographic variables, and attitudes toward pornography, censorship, free speech, and the harm of pornography. Values were related to attitude toward pornography control, especially the prioritizing of responsibility versus freedom. Attitudes toward pornography were also significant predictors; however, beliefs about importance of protecting free speech and the harm of pornography were the strongest predictors, with the protection of free speech making the largest contribution. In understanding mainstream feminists' attitudes toward pornography control, the most important variables appear to be those that assess the consequences of pornography.     

ATTITUDES OF JUVENILES IN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTIONS TOWARD NON-PERSONAL VISITORS

This study investigates the effects of non-personal visitors (mainly university students studying sociology and psychology) upon the residents of Juvenile Correctional Institutions. The subjects of this study were 95 Saudi males (average age; 15.85 years) enrolled in Riyad's Juvenile Correctional Institution. A sentence completion questionnaire (ASCQ) was developed by the researcher to elicit attitudes of the subjects toward the non-personal visitors. The analysis of the data indicated that most of the subjects were in favour of the continuation of the visits, and were happy to talk to the visitors. Only a very small percentage of subjects expressed negative attitudes towards the visitors. It seems that the visits are thus an opportunity to provide the inmates with new role models.     

THE ATTITUDES TOWARD RAPE VICTIMS SCALE

The paper describes the construction of a 25-item Attitudes toward Rape Victims Scale (ARVS) designed to assess favorable and unfavorable attitudes with particular emphasis on victim blame, credibility, deservingness, denigration, and trivialization. Normative data are presented as well as the results of various psychometric analyses based on four independent studies and a variety of samples including university students, doctors, lawyers, social workers, psychologists, and police in Singapore, and university students in the United States. These analyses confirm the ARVS's reliability, validity and cross-cultural suitability. As attitudes to-ward rape victims have been implicated in the quality of victim care in legal, medical, and social spheres, it is proposed that the ARVS provides a valuable tool for applied research in victimology.     

SEX DIFFERENCES IN ATTITUDES TOWARD SUICIDE

This study compares female and male reactions to troubled female and male target figures. The results replicate the findings of four earlier studies that showed that females are move sympathetic than males toward suicidal target figures. Unlike previous studies, however, by using a non-suicidal comparison condition, this study also shows that female sympathy ratings were not influenced by whether or not target figures were suicidal. Male ratings did show such an influence: males were most sympathetic to non-suicidal male targets and least sympathetic to suicidal male targets. Results are discussed in the light of sex-role stereotyping of males.     

FEMINIST AND FUNDAMENTALIST ATTITUDES TOWARD PORNOGRAPHY CONTROL

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences among feminists and between feminists and fundamentalists on attitudes toward pornography control. Ciliigan's (1982) model of moral reasoning was used as a basis for examining the division among feminists. An in-depth interview of 44 women was conducted. The feminists who wanted to control pornography, as well as the fundamentalists, focused primarily on responsibility to the welfare of others. Anticontrol feminists gave a higher priority to individual rights and freedom. Other differences, such as their hierarchy of values and experiences with victims of violence were found. All respondents felt extremely negative toward pornography and most believed that pornography is related to violence against women.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN IN TAIWAN AND CHINA

The goals of this article are to review published data from both English and Chinese sources on current attitudes toward women in Taiwan and China and to discuss issues in cross-cultural research that may affect the discovery and reporting of effects. Chinese women in both countries, when compared to men, had more liberal attitudes toward women, but women in China had more traditionally oriented attitudes than women in Taiwan. Yang's (1986) modernization theory was used to explain these results. There was also some overlap of gender roles in both cultures, with some traditional masculine (or feminine) roles played by the other gender. We propose that modernization may lead not only to greater gender equality but also to changes in the nature of gender roles, leading to greater gender-role overlap, in which it is advantageous for both men and women to have less distinctive gender-role characteristics. Finally, issues of construct validation, response sets, and alternative approaches to scale development are addressed, and suggestions for future research are offered.     

THE MEASUREMENT OF GENDER-ROLE ATTITUDES A Review and Commentary

This article reviews measures of gender-role attitudes with an emphasis on The Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1972); the Sex Role Egalitarianism Scale (SRES; Beere, King, Beere, & King, 1984); the Modern Sexism Scale (MS; Swim, Aikin, Hall, & Hunter, 1995); the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI; Glick & Fiske, 1996), and the Children's Occupational Activity Trait-Attitude Measure (COAT-AM; Bigler, Liben, Lobliner, & Yekel, 1995). The discussion of gender-role attitude measures focuses on the following themes: psychometric criteria; theoretical and conceptual distinctions among measures; domains of attitudes and behaviors included; relationship to other measures; and the meaningfulness and relevance of items. Gender-role attitude scales are viewed as measuring gender-role ideology in a particular sociohistorical context; context-specificity is viewed as contributing to the proliferation of scales, and as limiting the usefulness of scales across cultural and temporal boundaries.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE USE OF ANIMALS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND EDUCATION:

Abstract— This article reports the results of a national survey in which psychology majors were asked about the use of animals in psychological research and teaching. In general, the attitudes of psychology majors closely resembled the attitudes of practicing psychologists. Students tended to (a) support animal experiments involving observation or confinement, but disapprove of studies involving pain or death, (b) support mandatory pain assessments and the federal protection of rats, mice, pigeons, and reptiles, and (c) support the use of animals in teaching, but oppose an animal laboratory requirement for the psychology major. Opposition to the use of animals was greatest among women, among students at selective schools, and among students living in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region of the country.     

ATTITUDES TOWARD WOMEN, 1970–1995

The social climate for women has changed considerably since the Attitudes Toward Women Scale (AWS; Spence & Helmreich, 1972a) was developed in the early 1970s, but the pattern of change in AWS scores throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s is unclear. Published reports of data from 71 samples of American undergraduates responding to the AWS were located and analyzed for differences across time (1970–1995) and region (South and non-South). Women's AWS scores were strongly correlated with year of scale administration ( r = .78, p < .001), and men's scores showed a similar trend toward more liberal/feminist attitudes ( r = .60, p < .001). Scores show a steady trend toward more liberal/feminist attitudes, with no appreciable reversal or slowdown during the 1980s. Gender differences steadily increased from 1970 to 1985 and decreased from 1986 to 1995. Southern samples were marginally more conservative/traditional. The results are discussed in terms of generational differences, the effects of maternal employment on attitudes, and the individual's experience of cultural change.     

GENDER IDENTITY AND ADVERSARIAL SEXUAL BELIEFS AS PREDICTORS OF ATTITUDES TOWARD SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The present study replicates the work of Konrad and Gutek (1986) within a college sample and extends their work by examining the impact of gender identity and adversarial sexual beliefs as predictors of attitudes toward sexual harassment. One hundred seven college students indicated specific aspects of their direct experiences with sexual harassment and then completed several attitudinal measures. Endorsement of adversarial sexual beliefs and experience with sexual harassment significantly predicted negative (less tolerant) attitudes toward sexual harassment for male respondents. Strong gender group identity and the endorsement of adversarial sexual beliefs significantly predicted negative (less tolerant) attitudes toward sexual harassment for female students. Implications for the focus of intervention strategies within an academic environment are discussed.