The purpose of the present study on the frameworks of social attitudes during the 1960s in Japan was to describe individual development patterns of social attitudes of a sample of 1970's adolescents.
The social attitudes, in this study, were defined in terms of three scales: conservative, radical, and mass-social. The subjects consisted of 70 boys and 70 girls in upper and lower secondary school affiliated with the Faculty of Education of Nagoya University. Longitudinal data were collected over six years by monitoring the same subjects once a year. Subjects started school in different years (in 1972, 1973, and 1974) and graduated 6 years later (in 1977, 1978, and 1979, respectively), but were combined into a single group for the purpose of analyses. Individual attitude score-patterns over 6 years were classified as stable or non-stable. Among the nonstable attitude, ascending, descending and other patterns were identified.
Frequencies of classified score-patterns were counted for each attitude. In addition, individuals who showed ideal attitude score-patterns (i. e., stable, ascending, or descending patterns, on conservative, radical, or mass-social attitude items) were selected, so that their score-patterns and attitude score levels on the three attitudes could be examined.
Results of analyses are summarized as follows:
1. Analyses of individual attitude score-patterns.
(1) As each of the three attitudes had many variations in attitude score-patterns, all of the classified score-patterns were found.
(2) For boys, no significant differences were found in frequencies of classified score-patterns for the three attitudes.
(3) For girls, a significant difference between attitudes was observed: the frequencies of descending patterns in radical attitude and as cending patterns in mass-social attitude were more than expected.
(4) The three attitude score-patterns for each individual were statistically independent.
2. Analyses of individuals showing ideal stable, ascending, or descending patterns.
(1) In conservative and mass-social attitudes, there were individuals who showed grea t ascending or great descending patterns. But in radical attitude no one showed either patterns.
(2) There were individuals who consist ently showed response pattern between conservative and radical attitudes in the magnitude and directi on expected, while others eventually arrived at the same levels. Some, however, showed a re lationship between conservative and radical attitudes not consistent with expected patterns.
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