A STUDY ON APATHY TENDENCY OF UNIVERSITY STUDENT

An analyses of some relevant factors

Abstract

The purposes of the present study were to construct an apathy tendency scale and to examine the relationship between apathy and ego identity, parental image, and motivation for entering university. First, 37 items were selected from past studies related to apathy. A reliable and valid scale of apathy (apathy tendency scale) was then constructed by statistical analyses. In addition to the apathy tendency scale, the following four scales were administered to 381 university students (140 males and 241 females): Rusmussen's ego identity scale, two measurements of parental image, and a scale of motivation for entering university developed by Fuchigami (1984). The main findings were as follows: 1) Identity confusion and unfocused motivation for entering university influenced strongly the tendency for apathy. 2) Differences between males and females responding to the parental image measurement were found. The image of the paternal mother was important to male students. The psychological distance between mother and daughter was found important to female students.