Master's Theses

Department

Social Work

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

There are many variables involved in the attitudes of adolescents. This thesis focuses on adolescents aged 14 to 19. Whether the adolescent had a conservative or liberal attitude was measured by a questionnaire called the Sexual Attitude Scale. The variables that were used in this study were as follows: gender, classification, religious affiliation, family type, educational ability, autonomy, and aggression. Changing social patterns is very difficult. Because the rate of promiscuity, sexual violence, and teenage pregnancies have increased greatly over the past years, this researcher chose to explore some aspects of attitudes that may influence these behaviors. The goal of the researcher was to gather information that could be used to build better counseling, guidance, and educational programs. This study involved 235 students, 123 males and 112 females, from five high schools from the western half of the state of Kansas. These students responded to questionnaires that included demographic information, the Sexual Attitude Scale, and the aggression and autonomy scales from the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule. The significant findings involved gender, family type, and classification. The findings of this researcher indicated that males had more liberal attitudes than did females, adolescents living in a single parent situation had more liberal attitudes than any other family type, and freshmen had the most liberal attitudes and juniors had the most conservative attitudes. There are several recommendations that the researcher would make if this study were to be replicated. These recommendations are as follows: 1) the instrument used to survey for the attitude about sexuality should not have a 5 point Likert-type scale, 2) an independent variable involving religiosity and frequency of church attendance should be added, and 3) more attention should be paid to the reading levels of the participants.

Keywords

Counseling

Advisor

Dr. Bill C. Daley

Date of Award

Spring 1991

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

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