OSU Journals (Oklahoma State University)

Schwab, William A

English

Neighborhood revitalization & emergence of post industrial society

O'Toole, Richard

Turbett, J Patrick

Linz, Michael

Mehta, S Steven

FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 156
DEFINING PARENT ABUSE AND NEGLECT
Richard O'Toole, Kent State University, Ohio
J Patrick Turbett, State University of New York, Potsdam
Michael L1nz, S Steven Mehta
Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine
BACKGROUND
During the last thirty years public concern,
professional attention and scientific investiga-
tion have been drawn to the area of family
violence. The first major finding was in child
abuse (Pfohl 1977), followed by focus on
abuse of wives by their husbands. More
recently we have become aware of mistreat-
ment of the elderly (Steinmetz 1978). One
sociological task is to explore the definitional
and normative standards which social control
agents use to judge a new form of deviance.
In the United States there is a tendency to
medicalize family violence, because physi-
cians often treat its results as they shift family
problems to the professional realm, which
includes medicine (Conrad, Schneider 1980).
Therefore, we sought to determine the stand-
ards which physicians use in judging parent
abuse or neglect. This is important because
definitions and standards will determine future
data on incidence, developing etiological
theories, and policy on prevention and
treatment.
Besides measuring physicians' standards on
parental abuse, we explored how their back-
ground and experience would affect their judg-
ment. It could be expected that medical
specialty would be related to definitions, due
to differences in professional socialization,
and possible experiences with parent abuse
and neglect. We also wanted to determine if
professional experience with older patients
and actual experiences with their own parents
affects their definition. And we felt that
physicians' informal socialization experience
with older persons in their homes, either as
children or as adults, would affect their stand-
ards of parent abuse and neglect.
METHODS
The research design and methods are based
on a previous study defining child abuse by
Giovannoni and Becerra (1979). They con-
structed a set of 78 vignettes in 13 categories
to measure professional and public reactions
to child abuse and neglect.These categories
included: uncleanliness, emotional neglect, in-
adequate housing, medical neglect, nutritional
neglect, physical abuse, lack of supervision,
and sexual abuse. We selected three vignet-
tes from each category: 1) one which had
been ranked very serious, one ranked near
the middle of the seriousness scale, and one
ranked not so serious.
We adapted the vignettes to the parent
abuse study by exchanging the object of
abuse or neglect. Thus, a vignette which read:
"Parent banged the child against the wall
while shaking him by the shoulders." was
altered to:
The son/daughter banged the parent against
the wall while shaking him by the shoulders."
The resulting questionnaire included 3
vignettes for 8 types of abuse, for a total of
24 vignettes. Physicians were asked to rank
each vignette on a scale of increasing
seriousness from 1 to 9. A common parent
referent was provided for the judgments
through the instruction to the respondents:
"Assume that the statements refer to a depen-
dent 70 year old parent and the son or
daughter." To guard against response set, the
24 vignettes were randomly distributed to
respondents.
Following their responses to the vignettes the
physicians were asked for background infor-
mation, including: medical specialization,
years in practice, proportion of patients over
65, professional experience with parent abuse
and neglect, and the respondent's ex-
perience, either as a child or an adult, in a
home where an aged parent was cared for.
Sample. Questionnaires were mailed to all
of 766 physicians holding clinical appoint-
ments at a medical school, with a return rate
of approximately 300Al (229). We recognize
that this response rate is low, but it is com-
parable with similar studies (Block & Sinnott
1979, 31%; O'Malley 1979, 34%). Since
sampling is a problem with this research, we
consider the results exploratory. We are ex-
ploring the response pattern of a nonrepresen-
tative, but rather large group of physicians
FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 157
showing enough interest in this research to Table 1 shows the physicians' mean rank-
answer the questionnaire. ing of seriousness and the relative rank order
RESULTS of the 24 vignettes describing parent abuse
TABLE 1: PHYSICIAN'S JUDGMENT OF PARENT ABUSE & NEGLECT ITEMS
(Seriousness scale, 1 • 9, Increasing; N#229)
Maltreatment Scaled Rank
Category Vignette Description Rating Order
Physical Abuse 8.3 1
1. Hit parent in face with fist. 8.5 1
2. Hit parent with stick. 8.4 2
3. Banged parent against wall. 8.1 5
Sexual Abuse 7.7 2
4. Had intercourse with parent, one occasion. 8.0 6
5. Repeatedly suggested sex to the parent. 7.6 10
6. Fondled parent's genital area on one occasion. 7.5 11
Neglect Cleanliness 7.6 3
7. Leave parent on filthy mattress; infected sores. 8.3 3
8. Does not wash parent; arms & legs have sores. 7.9 8
9. Do not see that parent has clean clothes. 6.5 16
Medical Neglect 7.5 4
10. Ignored parent's illness; parent
was dehydrated when admitted to hospital. 8.2 4
11. Have not given parent medication. 7.7 9
12. Repeatedly failed to keep medical
appointments for parent. 6.7 13
Nutritional Neglect 6.9 5
13. Regularly fail to feed parent
for periods of 24 hours. 8.0 7
14.Brought parent to hospital 3 times, underweight;
parent gained weight in hospital. 6.6 15
15. Failed to prepare regular meals;
parent has to fix own meals. 6.2 18
Emotional Abuse 6.7 6
16. Constantly scream at parent; call foul names. 7.4 12
17. Ignore parent, seldom speak to him. 6.5 17
18. Keep parent locked in. 6.1 19
Supervision 6.0 7
19. Regularly left parent alone all night. 6.0 20
20. Regularly left parent with neighbor. 6.0 21
21. Regularly left parent alone in home. 5.9 22
Housing 5.0 8
22. Live in old house, two windows are broken,
with jagged glass left in them. 6.6 14
23. Live in apartment with few furnishings,
children & parents sleep on one mattress. 4.7 23
24. Live in small two-room apartment. 3.7 24
FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY
and neglect. Only one vignette, "Live in a
small two-room apartment," falls below the
midpoint of the seriousness scale. The mean
rank for all vignettes is 7.0 on a 9-point scale,
and four of the categories rank above 7 in
seriousness: physical abuse; sexual abuse;
neglect of cleanliness; and medical neglect.
Nutritional neglect is ranked 6.9.
Giovannoni and Becerra analyzed their data
/according to incidents involving assaults,
parental role failure in physical care, and
caretaker responsibilities other than physical.
In keeping with our research requirement to
reverse the roles of adult child and dependent
parent, other distinctions were used to analyze
parent abuse and neglect data. Categories of
physiqal and sexual assaults are rank ordered
first and second in seriOusness. Three types
of violations of the physical care role then
follow in seriousness: neglect of cleanliness,
medical neglect, and nutritional neglect.
Emotional mistreatment, a violation of the non-
physical role of the caretaker is next, follow-
ed by housing and supervision, which are
obligations of the physical care role.
When physicians' responses to the individual
vignettes are analyzed, other patterns appear.
They consistently ranked as serious those
violations of the caretaking role which could
result in medical harm to the parent, and
several were ranked as more serious than
vignettes portraying sexual abuse.
There was no relation between the physi-
cians' reactions to parent abuse and neglect
vignettes and the backgound and experience
variables: medical specialty, proportion of
patients over 65, and previous professional
experience with parent abuse and neglect. We
used number of years of practice to measure
age and general-experlence as a physician,
and found that these variables were not
related to the judgments. Similarly, neither
experience with an aged parent in the respon-
dent's childhood home, or such exposure as
an adult seemed to affect their response
patterns.
DISCUSSION
The results show that physicians do rank
parent abuse and neglect as serious. They
consistently used the mostserious end of the
continuum in ranking. Clearly, acts in which
the adult child assaults the dependent and ag-
ed parent, as in physical and sexual abuse
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 158
were ranked above the other categories of
abuse and neglect. With child abuse, physical
assaults are sometimes difficult to define
because group norms often legitimate
physical punishment of the child by the parent.
This is not true for the relation of the adult child
to the aged parent. Sexual abuse violates the
norms for both role relations. The physicians
also indicated that acts or neglect which would
result in medical harm were very serious.
Some acts which could result in serious
medical problems were ranked more serious
than some types of sexual abuse. Emotional
mistreatment was ranked relatively low com-
pared to physical harm to the parent. This may
reflect the socialization of physicians, their role
concepts, and their greater concern for
physical as compared to psychological illness.
These results suggest intriguing questions
for future research. If parent abuse and
neglect are seen as very serious by these
physicians, then why are these problems of
the elderly only now being recognized as a
social problem? Perhaps it is due to the rather
low incidence of the problem. We disagree
with this answer, and submit that the reported
incidence of parent abuse will remain low un-
til it is institutionally established as a social
problem. It is not clear now, whether the pro-
blem will be medicalized, or recognized by
some other professional group. If it is institu-
tionalized as a social problem, then it will be
recognized and reported, and thus, will justify
official and general concern. We must also
ask: How win the problem of parent abuse and
neglect rank with other serious social pro-
blems requiring treatment by service, research
and judicial agencies?
REFERENCES
Block Marilyn R, Jan D Sinnott 1979 The battered
elder syndrome: Exploratory study. Maryland
University
Conrad Peter, Joseph Schneider 1980 Deviance
& Medicslization: From Badness to Sickness. St
Louis Mosby
Giovannoni Jeanne, Rosina Becerra 1979 Defin-
ing Child Abuse. New York Free Press
O'Malley Helen, H Segars, R Perez, V Mitchell,
/ G Knuepfel1979 Elder Abuse in Massachusetts: A
SufVBy of ProftJssionals and Paraprofessionals.
Boston Legal Research & services for the Elderly.
Pfohl S Jr 19n The 'discovery' of child abuse.
Social Problems. 70 310-323
Steinmetz Susan K 1978 Battered parents. Society
1554-55


Defining parent abuse and neglect

Mejer, Jan H

FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 171
TOWARDS AN EXO-SOCIOLOGY: CONSTRUCTS OF THE ALIEN
Jan H MeJer, University of HawaII
INTRODUCTION
Of many issues to be confronted in the long-
term development of a sociology of extra·
terrestrial, intelligent societies (ETIS). the most
crucial is that of assumptions that can
reasonably be made. While such studies await
the unlikely event of contact with ETIS. an in-
tellectual preparation may increase sophistica-
tion in current sociological theories and obser-
vations of the institutional world. If contact with
ETIS should occur. then a prior analysis of
likely problems may avert disaster.
What can be assumed after the discovery of
an. ETIS? Social organization? A culture of
symbols. of interaction? Socialization with
social and physical adaptation? Asocial struc-
ture of economic and political institutions?
Religion? Deviance? Social class contradic-
tions? Social classes? To apply such
categories uncritically would anthropomor-
phize the ETIS. Could an exo-sociology be
constructed by using familiar sociological con-
cepts? Perhaps. But first. some hidden
cultural strata of presumptive ideas must be
revealed concerning "alien" peoples.
Sociological theories of human societies partly
depend on buried assumptions regarding
human nature. The epistemology defining
ETIS requires discussion prior to deriving any
first principles.
To what extent do human conceptions of the
stranger or the alien serve as objectified
answers to human problems? Cultural fan-
tasies thrive in empirically unknown areas. In
the case of ETIS such myths prevent us from
seeing extra-terrestrial societies for what they
are. This is a necessary preparation for an ef-
fective exo-sociology. Yet. profound cultural
implications can be drawn. Thatcher (1978)
warns of "cosmic culture shock" following
extra-terrestrial contact. How would Christiani-
ty respond. given the belief that humans "are
made in God's image"? If mythical
preconceptions guided our response. could
we successfully overcome the dislocations of
a superior technology? Sharp (1952) reported
the devastating cultural impact of the steel axe
on the Yir Yoront. Social relations. gender
roles. economic institutions. traditional ideas
and values became irreparably disrupted
when steel axes replaced stone axes.
FIRST CONTACT BY EUROPEANS
The expansion of European colonial society
into what is now the "third world" had the
character of a first contact by aliens. To the
Europeans. the peoples they met were
strange. and in some ways. non-human.
These feelings and perceptions were
reciprocated by those they conquered.
Prior to the imperial expansion of Europe. the
world consisted of a series of largely discon-
nected societies. Occasional intercultural cen-
tact was a "contact of beads along a thread"
(Worsley 1968 9). Members of each society
peered beyond their physical boundaries in-
to a cultural void. and mythical constructs·
ancestors. perfectly good and bad idealiza-
tions. gods and goddesses-peered back. The
cargo cults movement in which the Melane-
sians believed that American planes were fly-
ing in gifts from their ancestors is a classic ex-
ample (Worsley 1957). The subjective
understanding that all humans belonged to
one world had yet to be created through col-
onialism. industrialization. and bureaucratiza-
tion Introduced and institutionalized by Euro-
pean states. Their preconceptions of the
"alien" non-European were crucial in forming
the world system (Sachs 1976).
EUROPEAN MYTHOLOGY:
BASIC PREMISES
The fantasies politically imposed on native
peoples by Europeans reflected European
culture. and served as mythological answers
to European social problems. Seven premises
are basic to the imperial European world view.
Premise 1: The first asserted the "natual
superiority" of the European. This self-fulfilling
belief derived from Christianity. and on the
evidence of technological superiority.
However. the social disintegration resulting
from contact was also the result of previously
uncontaminated populations succumbing to
diseases to which Europeans had become im-
mune. There was a 97 percent die-off of native
Central Americans during the first fifty years
following Cortez' arrival (McNeill 1976). This
tragedy served to prove to both native peoples
FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY
and Europeans that the gods had intended the
"new lands" to be colonized by the invader.
Premise 2: The second premise concerns
the European interpretation of history. The na-
tion of the original Garden of Eden persisted
in the soft primitivism of the "noble
savage"(Keeley 1976; Howe 1977). Uncor-
rupted by civilization, natives could be In-
troduced to good and evil through a Christian
awakening. The explorers romantically idealiz-
ed them according them the images of
classical Greece. Artists depicted Tahitians
and Hawaiians in classical poses near huts
resembling temples, and wearing toga-like
clothes (Smith 1960). Noble savages lived
freely and naturally, as happy children. Such
proto-racism answered 18th Century intellec-
tural questions about comp~rative progress.
While the "natural civilization" of Europe was
never in doubt, noble savages represented to
the imperial humanists a "second chance" to
civilize the natives without incurring the heavy
costs so apparent in Europe.
Premise 3: In the concrete situations of con-
tact, the Europeans met resistance. The pater-
nalism of the noble savage myth turned easi-
ly into the hard primitivism of viewing native
peoples as barbarians. Rousseau expressed
shock at the killing of a French explorer by the
Maori: "Is it possible that the good children
of Nature can really be so wicked?" The ex-
istence of barbarians implied the natural
superiority of the civilized European. Accom-
panying these assumptions were two views of
human nature which Horton (1966) identifies
as homo duplex and homo damnatus.
Preml..4: Homo duplex asserts that human
beings are made of two parts, one egoistic and
primitive, the other altruistic and civilized. The
latter socialized self controls the antisocial im-
pulses of the animal-like ego. To the degree
that the altruistic self is undeveloped or breaks
down, then Hobbes' war of .all against all
prevails. Golding (1955) depicts homo duplex
whereby the civilized veneer of English
schoolboys disintegrates to reveal a barbaric
primitivism when they were stranded on a
tropical island. Homo duplex assumes a
natural climb from the savage to the civilized,
from child to adult.
Premise 5: An earlier view, homo damnatus,
naturally divides the human world into the
morally superior and the morally inferior. Dam-
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 172
natus provided an earlier basis for social Dar-
winism, elegantly supported by the civilized
versus barbarian dichotomy. But it was more
severe than duplex by implying a moral ascrip-
tion. In resisting the European, the native
revealed a natural inferiority, proving that the
ego of duplex naturally dominates and never
can be overcome. The missionary's function
was to civilize, or Europeanize the morally
superior natives that "naturally" cooperated,
and to condemn and delegitimize those who
resisted.
Preml.. 6: The Europeans viewed nature as
a resource which advanced peoples had a
natural right to exploit and control. Nature
possessed no rights of its own. Its processes
were relevant merely as a utility for the con-
tinued development of European progress.
Nature thus included any feature of the planet
that could be used, including the peoples of
non-European culture. They were defined as
"raw" while the Europeans were "cooked".
(Levi-Strauss 1969)
Premise 7: Finally, the European mythology
emphasized "masculine" values while
denigrating "feminine" values. This function-
ed to rationalize the lower status of women.
And native peoples were also defined as
feminine in contrast to the rational masculini-
ty of Europe. In time, with the emergence of
bureaucracy as the dominant organizational
form, objective consciousness, rationality and
calculability, formed a constellation of prefer-
red views for transforming the world of nature
(Roszak 1969). The subjective, intuitive, and
aleatory are suppressed and endowed with
forbidden power. Objective consciousness
rightly controls the subjective, lest the subjec-
tive should destroy the hard-won
achievements of rationally evolved civilization.
NATIVE MYTHS AND EUROPEANS
The complementary issue asks how the
Europeans were perceived by the native
peoples whom they conquered. Necessarily
the meaning and motives of the invaders was
interpreted within the mythological frame that
lay beyond the boundaries of the society in
religious or ideological language. Captain
Cook's arrival in Hawaii coincided with the
festival of the God, Lono. Cook was assum-
ed to represent, the God, and given suitable
honors (Dawes 1968). Messianic Aztec myth
FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY
predicted the coming of a beneficent man who
was similarly identified with Cortez (ldeIl1956).
In time, the native peoples developed a more
realistic understanding.
EXTRA·TERRESTRIAL MYTHS
ETIS mythology has four implications. 1)
What is popularly called "outer space" is
mythological space. As in the past, the
unknown territory extending beyond each
culture shades into the mythical, so outer
space exists as a symbolic screen. At a short
distance above the earth's surface the ETIS
culture projects its imaginings onto a "void" .
2) Many of the earlier European premises per-
sist in the modern technocratic world culture.
3) These premises are still viewed as relevant
to contemporary problems. 4) The potential for
disaster exists if such mythologies are used
to guide our assessment of extra-terrestrial be-
ings. Policies based on such premises may
require the destruction of ETIS in favor of
human colonies. But if the ETIS are more
powerful, human society could suffer the fate
of the non-Europeans because of our
misconceptions. Whether a political dimen-
sion exists would depend on our perception
of ETIS and some provision for their rights.
SCIENCE FICTION FILMS
Science fiction films in recent years have
been seen by millions over the world. These
films socialize attitudes and interpretations of
ETIS and the likely nature of contact. These
films create a dialectic of the impersonal, ob-
jective science and the emotional, subjective
magic as two competing forms of reality. The
magic form is viewed whether as primitivism
or as the source of omnipotent powers. In the
film 2001, a technoligical society has objec-
tified and depersonalized humans. The com-
puter personality, "HAL" is the only character
in the film other than a child to possess an
emotional or subjective side. The surviving
astronaut is magically reborn into cosmic con-
sciousness on arrival at the alien "star-gate"
near the planet Jupiter.
In "Star Wars" the Empire coerces its
dehumanized military staff in routinizing
humanity's dark side. The Rebels' source of
ultimate resistance is the uncorrupted Force,
an irrational and intuitive power. In the film
"ET" the Extra Terrestrial displays magical
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 173
powers such as telekinesis which counters the
faceless technocratic authority. In the film,
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind," com-
munication with ETIS begins with the mystical
implanting of a drive to go to the Devil's
Tower, and is completed with music and
displays of light. Solutions to our current pro-
blems are seen to result from forces that lie
outside the scientific culture. In many of the
films, the true humanity of individual scientists
. is recovered through contact with the non-
humans.
The noble savage survives in these films,
where the creatures are innocent, child-like,
and wise. Here, a natural alliance between the
non-human' and the heroic child is implied.
These creatures have not been corrupted by
civilization, so a child's eye view of problems
may lead to solutions (Puschmann-Nalenz
1977). But an important scene is ET's corrup-
tion through alcohol. As a child, ET has
supersensitive and emotional powers that are
spread emphatically to children rather than
adults, as significant others.
The barbarian image is explored in 'Star
Wars", but the polarity is reversed. The Em-
pire is barbaric, evil, and inhumane. The
Rebels guard the core values of civilization.
If they are destroyed, the true dark ages com-
mence. In the film 2001, human history is a
process of technological evolution from
savagery to civilization, a classic 18th Century
typology.
Homo damnatus appears in Star Wars as
Darth Vader the Evil, and Obi Wan Kanobi the
Good. The moral superiority of the child and
ET compared with the inferiority of the State
and its scientists appear in ET and Close En-
counters. Homo duplex is implied in the 2001
depiction of human history from the war
against all at the dawn of time to the over
socialized explorers on the voyage to Jupiter.
The film assumes that the civilizing process
is at an end. Humanity must be reborn to
transcend enirely both the ego and the
superego.
In these films the universe is shown as a
resource for the human species, much as the
earth is defined by the dominant economic
systems today, and as Europeans once
regarded the non-European world. In 2001,
the irrepressible human spirit of discovery is
a claim on the rest of the universe. In Star
FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY
Wars, planets simply serve as theaters of war.
They are a stage for resolving human con-
tradictions, where planets are destroyed or
changed for the combatants' use. A final
theme asserts a natural superority of humans.
American industrialized values win in Star
Wars through Luke Skywatker and Han Solo.
Non-humans appear either as teddy bears,
barbarians, drifters, or wizards. The aliens are
obviously more advanced than the humans.
But this is not the result of species ascription,
since humans are about to join the galaxy on
the road to cosmic ascendancy.
CONCLUSION
A fuly developed exo-sociology may prove
revitalizing to the profession. In the larger
cultural setting, the dangers of mythological
preconceptions concerning ETIS or any
peoples classed as alien should be apparent
from this review of the earlier European first
contact with the "aliens".
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 174
Roszak T 1969 The Making of a Counterculture·
New York Doubleday
Rood R T, J S Trefil 1981 Are We Alone? The
PossibilityofExtraterrBstrialCIvilizations New York
SCribners
Sachs I 1976 The Oiscoll8fY of the Third World
Cambridge Mass MIT Prass
Sagan C 1973 The Cosmis Connection: An Extra-
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Sebeok T, RRosenthal 1981 eds The Clever Hans
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SCiences V 364
Sharp L 1952 Steel axes for stone age Australians.
H Spicer ed Human ProblBms in Tschnological
Change New York Sage
Smith B 1960 Europsan VISion and the South
Pacific, 1761J.1850 Oxford England Clarendon
Thatcher M 1976 What of Extraterrestrial contact?
Current 208 32-39
Worsley P 1957 The Trumpet ShaH Sound London
MacGibbon Kee
- - - - - - - 1970 The Third WorldChicago U
Press
REFERENCES
Bern Sandra L 1975 Rufty women and chesty men.
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David Deborah S, Robert Brannon 1976 eds The
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Wesley
Dubbert J L 1979 A Man's Place: Masculinity in
Transition. Englewood Cliffs Prentice Hall
Farrel Warren 19748 The LibBratBd Man. New
York Random House
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frontier. MS April 100
Goldberg H 1976 Hazards ofB8ing MsIB: Surviving
he Myth of Masculine Privi/8g8. New York Nash
Korda Michael 1972 Cheuvinism at Work and at
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Random House .
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Englewood Cliffs Prentice Hall
SChipper Henry 1982 The truth will out: An inter-
view with Phyllis SChlafiy. MS January 88-89
Stems Peter N 1979 B8 a Man! MalBs in ModBrn
Society. New York HOlmes Meier
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Howe K R 1977 The Fate of the Savage in Pacific
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Keeley B J 1976 Noble savage: Primitive origins
of charisma and Its contemporary survival.
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New York Harper Row
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HARVEY ContinUed from Page 170


Towards an exo-sociology: Constructs of the alien

Plass, Margaret S

Gessner, John C

FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 198
VIOLENCE IN COURTSHIP RELATIONS: A SOUTHERN SAMPLE
Margaret S Piau, Memphis State University
John C Gessner, Loyola University, New Orleans
INTRODUCTION
"Cruel to be kind means I love you, baby..
You gotta be cruel to be kind."
The sentiment of this lyric In a recent popular
song expresses the truth about a segment of
society in the United States. The notion of
abusing one's loved ones - both physically
and emotionally - is distasteful If not horrify-
ing to most people. But in many sectors of
society it is closer to the norm than It Is to
deviance. Many skeletons have been found
in the closet in the past twenty years, and im-
portant among these is family violence.
Sociological research in the 1970's focused
on the problem of spouse abuse and the fac-
tors surrounding it. Wife or husband beating
moved from obscurity to recognition, and
abuses of young children, and of aged parents
were increasingly recognized.
Recent research indicates that the cruelty
phenomenon may extend from the privacy of
the family to the somewhat more public
domain of dating relations (Makepeace 1981).
The Incidence of violent and abusive behavior
in dating couples Is comparable to the same
types of aggression in marital relations. Laner
(1981) lists the following characteristics which
serious dating couples share with their mar-
ried counterparts: "greater time at risk;
greater presumed range of activities and
interests; greater intensity of involvement; an
implied right to influence one another; sex dif-
ferences that potentiate conflicts; roles and
responsibilities based on sex rather than on
interests and competencies; greater privacy
associated with low social control; exclusivity
of organization; involvement of personal,
social, and perhaps material commitment;
stress due to developmental changes; and
extensive knowledge of one another's social
biographies which include vulnerability, fears,
and other aspects of each other's lives that
can be used for purposes of attack."
EMERGENT AREA OF INVESTIGATION
The Makepeace sample included 202 col-
lege students, predominantly freshmen and
sophomores, from rural and small town
backgrounds, middle income Catholic and
Protestant families. He examined both direct
and indirect knowledge of courtship violence,
asking his respondents to indicate both their
own experience, and that of others about
whose courtship violence they knew. He
recognized seven levels of violence ranging
from "threat" to "assault with a weapon." He
found a fairly low degree of direct experience
with violence, ranging from 14 percent for
pushing and slapping, to 1 percent for assault
with a vveapon, and higher levels of indirect
experience, with 49 percent for slapping to 7
percent for "choking" and 8 percent to assault
with a weapon. Females were more likely to
report themselves as victims, and males were
more likely to perceive themselves as
aggressors.
Laner questioned more than 500 college
students concerning their experiences with
violence in the context of the dating relation,
and with violence as children. She found that
violence was more likely in serious dating rela-
tions than in casual dating, and that childhood
experiences of viOlence seem to be related to
experiencing and inflicting abuse in the dating
encounter. The expected inverse relation
between socioeconomic status and violence
was not found. Laner indicates the need for
a theory of violence in intimate, voluntary,
heterosexual relations, and the need for
longitudinal studies to find the relation
between premarital and postmarital violence.
These later studies have shown a much
higher degree of violence in the dating rela-
tion than has been reported for the dating
stage for marital abusers (Gelles 1972).
THE RESEARCH SAMPLE
We gave a short questionnaire to an oppor-
tunity sample of 195 high school and college
students in a large southern citY during the
Spring of 1982. The sample included students
from a small religiously affiliated university, a
medium size private university, a private
religious sponsored boys' high school and a
large public high school. There was no
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response from a private girls' school, due to
administrative problems. Respondents in-
dicated their experience both as inflictors and
as victims of courthip violence in casual and
serious dating relations. Casual was defined
as a relation with a low degree of mutual com-
mitment. serious was defined as a relation in
which those involved have a high degree of
mutual commitment, andlor see themselves
as "in love" in the relation. The items of
abusive behavior were adapted from the Con-
flict Tactics SCale of Strauss and associates
(1980 254). The respondents were predom-
inantly Catholic, white, and middle income.
We expected: 1) that incidence of abusive
behavior would be greater in serious dating
relations; 2) that females would be more fre-
quently abused than abusing; 3) that college
level respondents would be more involved
than high school level respondents in abusive
behavior; 4) that the relation between violent
behavior and socioeconomic status would be
negative; and 5) that black respondents would
report a higher incidence of abusive behavior
than white respondents.
FINDINGS
General Profile.
Those in serious dating relations were con-
sistently more likely to be abused and abusive
than those in casual relations, as expected.
The most frequently encountered behavior
was pushing, grabbing, or shoving, followed
by slapping, throwing something, kicking,
biting, or hitting with a fist, and hitting or try-
ing to hit with an object. This corresponds to
the incidence of these behaviors in the
Strauss study (1980 37).
Gender Variations. In the serious relation, in
7 of the 8 categories of abuse, females were
more likely than males to be aggressors, as
shown in Table 1. Females were involved in
slapping their partners 3 times more than
males, in kicking, biting, or hitting with the fist
7 times as often, and in hitting or trying to hit
with an object almost 3 times more often than
males. The difference is not quite so marked
in causal relations, but females are more ag-
gressive in 4 of the seven categories in casual
dating relations. Twice as many males as
females threw something at their partner, and
males were more involved in the more serious
categories of beating up and using weapons.
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 199
Except for the use of a weapon in this the only
positive response, and it came from a female.
In the serious dating relation, more males
than females reported being victimized in 5
of the 8 categories of abuse. Almost 5 times
as many males as females reported that the
partner "threw something at me." More than
twice as many males as females reported
being slapped, and kicked, bitten, and hit with
a fist. In casual relations, more males than
females reported that they had received abuse
in 7 of the 8 categories of violence. This higher
incidence of female abusive behavior also
agrees roughly with the findings of the Strauss
study where wives were more likely than
husbands to be involved as aggressor in 4 of
the 8 categories.
High SChool vs College Differences Table
2 shows that a higher percentage of high
school age respondents were involved in 6 of
the 8 categories of violence as aggressors in
serious relations. They were also more involv-
ed in 5 of the 8 categories in casual relations.
. A larger percentage of high school respond-
ents were victims in 4 categories of violence
for serious relations, and in 6 of the 8
categories in casual relations.
Race Differences The focus, as shown in
Table 3, is on the black versus white respon-
dent. There were only 8 cases of Hispanic
descent, of which only one reported any dating
relation violence. In serious relations, a higher
proportion of black respondents were involv-
ed as aggressors in all 8 categories of
violence. They reported "threw something at
my partner" 3 times more often than white
respondents, and were involved 2 times more
frequently in pushing, grabbing, or shoving,
and more than 2 times more often reported
slapping, kicking, biting, or hitting with the fist.
All positive responses in the three most ex-
treme categories were from black resondents.
As victims in serous relations, a higher
percentage of blacks were found in four
categories. Except for kicking, biting, or hit-
ting with the fist, where more than 2 times
more blacks than whites reported such ex-
perience, the differences by race of respon-
dent was not very great. In casual relations,
blacks were more often victims in 6 of the 8
categories. Almost 2 times as often, blacks
appeared as victims in the pushing, grabbing,
or shoving, and the slapping category. Blacks
FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 200
TABLE 1: COURTSHIP VIOLENCE BY TYPE, ROLE. GENDER
(Roles: Aggreuor, A; Victim, V: percents.)
Type: Serious casual
Gender: ..... Female Male Female
Violent Acts Role: A V A V A V A V
Throw object 8 24 11 5 11 16 5 5
Push, grab 29 28 27 18 23 25 18 14
Slap 9 24 26 9 7 18 12 4
Kick, bite, punch 2 13 15 5 3 11 7 0
Hit with object 4 10 12 3 4 7 8 1
Beat up 0 2 4 4 1 3 0 1
Weapon threat 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 0
Weapon use 1 0 1 0 ~ 0 1 0
N 90 90 79 7B 90 90 79 7B
Note: Column totals may exceed 100 due to multiple violent acts.
TABLE 2: COURTSHIP VIOLENCE BY TYPE, ROLE, • AGE
(Roles: Aggreuor, A: Victim, V: Percents.)
Type: Serious casual
Age: H.S. College H.S. College
Violent Acts Role: A V A V A V A V
Throwobject 14 21 7 13 14 22 6 7
Push, grab 33 33 26 20 30 30 16 15
Slap 15 28 17 13 10 25 9 6
Kick, bite, punch 8 11 8 9 2 16 6 2
Hit with object 8 7 7 7 6 4 6 4
Beat up 4 2 1 3 4 4 1 2
Weapon threat 4 0 0 2 0 2 1 0
Weapon use 2 0 1 0 6 0 0 0
N 50 49 119 119 50 50 119 118
TABLE 3: COURTSHIP VIOLENCE BY TYPE, ROLE,. RACE
(RoIea: Aggl'888Or, A: Victim, V: percents.)
Type: Serious casual
Race: Bleck White Bleck White
Violent Acts Role: A V A V A V A V
Throw object 15 13 7 17 20 12 6 12
Push, grab 41 25 24 24 45 32 14 17
Slap 29 14 12 19 17 18 6 10
Kick, bite, punch 13 24 6 10 3 18 6 3
Hit with object 16 6 5 8 14 6 4 4
Beat up 5 5 0 3 3 9 0 1
Weapon threat 5 3 0 0 8 3 0 0
Weapon use 5 0 0 0 3 0 0 0
N as as 120 120 36 36 125 125
TABLE 4: COURTSHIP VIOLENCE BY TYPE, ROLE. INCOME LEVEL
(RoIea: Agl'888Or, A: Victim, V: Percents.)
Type: SerIous CHuaI
Income: Lower Middle Upper Lower Middle Upper
Violent Acts Role: A V A V A V A V A V A V
Throw object 21 29 11 10 7 23 24 24 8 5 5 17
Push, grab 35 29 23 16 32 36 33 31 23 16 12 21
Slap 41 29 13 11 16 20 31 31 10 11 4 5
Kick bite punch 26 24 4 7 5 11 19 25 4 2 2 4
Hit with object 11 6 5 5 9 11 22 13 6 2 0 5
Beat up 12 6 0 4 0 2 6 6 0 4 0 0
Weapon threat 5 6 1 1 0 0 6 6 2 0 0 0
Weapon use 11 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 0
N 17 18 Ba 82 57 56 18 17 BaH 57 56
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were about 5 times as often found in the vic-
tim category for kicking, biting, or hitting with
the fist.
Income Level Variation Although 7 levels of
income were listed on the questionnaire, rang-
ing from under $10,000 to $50,000 and over,
these were simplified to low, middle, and high
levels as shown in Table 4. In serious and
casual relations, the lower income levels were
more likely be be aggressors in all 8
categories of violence. As victims, lower
income level respondents were more frequent
in 5 of the 8 categories. In casual relations,
lower income level respondents were more
frequent in 7 of the 8 categories. In all situa-
tions, middle income respondents usually
ranked in the middle. But the involvement of
upper income respondents was usually not far
below that of the middle income group, and
often was close to that of the lower income
group.
POSSIBLE INTERPRETATIONS
The findings of this relation between degree
of commitment between dating partners from
casual to serious, and abusive behavior were
as expected. Serious relations contain the
greater opportunity for abuse, carry a larger
battery of arms which partners may use
against each other, and have a greater poten-
tial for occurrence of stressful situations.
The finding that females were generally more
abusive than males was not anticipated. The
sample of females was generally older, since
85 percent were college level, compared to 54
percent of the males. They were more often
black, composing 35 percent of the females,
compared to 19 percent black among the
males. There were slightly more from the up-
per income group, with 38 percent, compared
to females from other groups. In spite of the
fact more females where in the college level
group, the college group as a whole showed
less involvement in physical violence in court-
ship relations, the age difference could be an
explanatory factor. The younger respondents,
who were mostly male, could have been less
likely to be black, even with the black race
relating positively to both abuse and
victimization.
Aside from possible explanations lying in the
makeup of the sample, we could speculate
Volume 11 No 2. November 1983 201
that courting males are less likely to be
abusive, having been socialized to the notion
that it is unacceptable to strike a woman in
a courtship context. This could also be a
regional characteristic of the South. The
Makepeace and the Laner studies were con-
ducted in the West, showing it more likely for
females to be victims, and males to be ag-
gressors. Perhaps greater male courtship
passivity is a Southern quality, linked to the
ideal of male chivalry.
This phenomenon could also indicate norm
variation between males and females. In a
dating relation, women may still have control.
Males may be more anxious about displeas-
ing or angering a dating partner than they
would be about a wife. A woman can more
easily end the dating relation. And a woman
is more likely to tell others if she receives
physical abuse in a dating relation than in a
marital relation. Abuse in the dating relation
may be more private for the female than for
the male due to the greater reluctance of the
male to tell others about it. A link may also be
found in the influence of increased feminine
assertiveness in the last decade.
The fact that younger respondents were
more involved in violent behavior was also sur-
prising. Perhaps high school students did not
respond as carefully as the college group to
the questionnaire. Besides sampling biases,
the unexpected findings may also reflect a
more violent subculture in the younger adoles-
cent group. This age group, less skilled at
interpersonal commnication, may be more
likely to use physical force to express anger
and other emotions. Older persons are likely
to have more alternatives to physical abuse,
as in talking it out, and other activities.
Younger adolescents are also likely to be less
secure in a dating relation, and more prone
to apply physical dominance and aggression.
This does not explain why the college level
respondents, who by this reasoning, should
have become less violent on leaving young
adolescence, still reported less lifetime
violence in courtship. Perhaps the more
violent high school group never enters college,
which could have eliminated them as poten-
tial respondents in the college sampl~. It is
also possible that the high school group are
more violent than the college group. The
popularity of the "Punk Rock" movement in
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the youth subculture, with its many violent
components, could indicate the more violent
tendencies in today's high school youth, as
compared to the college cohort. The high
school group has also been exposed to more
graphic violence on television and in movies,
and exposed at an earlier age, and for a longer
time than the college cohort.
ThoIJgh the lower income group respondents
were generally more involved in violence than
the others, the difference Is far less than we
expected. Violence in lower income levels is
expected as connected with the culture of
poverty and the fact that lower income per-
sons are more prone to frustrations, have
fewer legitimate outlets for their anger, and a
sense of powerlessness in society. They are
more prone to violent expression of emotion
(Wolfgang, Ferracutti 1967; Gurr, Bishop
1970). The upper class presumably does not
have such inducements to violence. The
relatively high level of violence In the upper
income group could be caused by a sampling
anomaly in this study. It Is also possible that
these findings indicate some aristocratic tradi-
tion. Perhaps· high income level people are
bored by having already achieved so much as
lower level people are by being able to achieve
so little. Or perhaps the economic dominance
that goes with higher income also comes into
play in interpersonal relations.
The finding that blacks were more involved
in violence in courtship than other racial
groups was expected. The violence that
characterizes the black subculture seems to
enter also in courtship relations.
CONCLUSION
Society in the United States seems
characterized by a fascination with violence.
The media, the music, and lifestyle of the
people all seem to support acceptance and
respect for violence as a way of life. It is
important to study the violent aspects of the
national culture to better understand and c0n-
trol them, and to help bring the lifestyles of
the people closer to the ideals which they
seek. We hope that future research will more
adequately uncover information In the pro-
blem of violence in courtship, and that such
information will lead to a more stable dating
pattem and less violent marital relations.
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 202
REFERENCES
Byrd Doris 1979 Intersexual assault: A review of
empirical findings. Paper, Eastern Sociological
Society mtg
Gelles Richard 1972 The Viol8nt Home. Beverly
Hills Sage
- 1980 VIOlence in the family: Review of research
in the 1970's. J Marriage & Family 42 873-885
Goode William 1971 Force & violence in the fami-
ly. J Ma"iBge & Family Nov 624-635
Gurr, Richard, Vaughn Bishop 1970 Why Men
Reb8l Princeton U Press
Laner Mary, Jeanine Thompson 1981 Abuse and
aggression in courting couples. Paper, Western
Social Sciences mtg.
Makepeace James 1981 Courtship violence
among college students. Family ReiBtions
Rosenbaum A, K 0 O'Leary 1981 Marital violence:
Characteristics of abusive couples. J Consulting &
Clinic8J Psych 49 63-71
Strauss M, R Gelles, Suzanne Steinmetz 1980
Behind Closed Doors. New York Anchor
Star Barbara 1980 Patterns in family violence.
SociBl CBsework 339-345
Stolz Barbara 1979 Violence in the family: A
National concern, a Church concern. Washington
DC United States Catholic Conf
Wolfgang Marvin, Franco Ferraeutti 1967 The SuI>
culture of VIoisnce. London Tavistock


Violence in courtship relations: A southern sample

Lindsay, Paul

- FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 231
METHOD
Data from the base year and first follow-up
surveys of the National Longitudinal Study of
the high school class of 1972 are used (Ric-
cobono 1981). This is a representative sample
of seniors enrolled in public and private
schools in the United States in the spring of
1972. A stratified sample of schools was
drawn representing public and private
schools, geographic regions, schooJ size, pro-
ximity of institutions of higher learning,
percentage minority group enrollment, income
level oUhe community, and degree of urban-
ization. Then a random sample of 18 seniors
was drawn from each school. Further data
COMMUNITY TYPE, SCHOOL SIZE, AND STUDENT BEHAVIOR
Paul Llndaay, University of North carolina at Greensboro
INTRODUCTION lower socioeconomic status and school
In his "reassessment of conventional performance.
wisdom," about rural education, Sher (1972) Although Barker's theory includes communi-
points to two characteristics of rural schools. ty as well as organizational setting$, the
1) Rural schols are smaller than urban effects of the community on student behavior
schools. There are few small public schools have not -been studied as extensively as
left in urban areas. 2) There is often a closer school size. It is axiomatic in sociological
relation between school and community in the theory that the community context affects
rural setting. There is a considerable body of many aspects of school life, from the level of
empirical research on the school size factor. financial support to student and parent in-
Barker and Gump (1964) found more partici- volvement to specific types of learning pro-
pation and leadership experiences in extra blems. The urban black ghetto, white ethnic
curricular activity and more student satisfac- neighborhood, affluent suburb, small town and
tion in smaller high schools, using a Kansas rural community present different problems
sample. These findings were replicated with and challenges to schools. Case studies have
other regional and national- samples (Baird illuminated characteristics of such com-
1969; Lindsay 1982; Morgan, Alwin 1980). munities and their impact on schools (Levy
Here we test the hypothesis that the type of 1970; P~hkin, Larkin 1979). We will compare
community in which a school is located has schools in rural settings to those In three other
independent effects on student behavior, con- community types: small town, large city, and
trolling for school size. suburb. I propose that Barker's theory is
The advantages of small groups, organiza- appropriate for explaining not only student
tions and communities are suggested in participation and satisfaction, but also attend-
Barker's (1978) theory of behavior settings. A ance and retention in high school. Therefore,
given setting, such as performance of a school attendance rates and dropout rates are includ-
play, has a limited number of places for active ed as dependent variables. There Is much
participants. When the total number of per- diversity among rural communities. One
sons In a setting is relatively small, the set- dimension of the rural community is the ex-
ting is more likely to be "undermanned" tent to which the population Is engaged In
because a greater portion of those present are agriculture. A related hypothesis to be tested
required to operate the activity. This leads to is that the degree to which students in rural
higher rates of participation, which leads to high schools come from farm and nonfarm
more satisfaction. The population size of a families will make a difference in attendance
given habitat is a powerful determinant of and dropout rates.
individual behavior. Barker illustrates his point
with an example of a base ball game. Mead
used this analogy to characterize the social
process by which an individual learns what is
expected in a given social situation and
behaves in accordance with the expected role.
Barker imagines an 8-person baseball team
with no center fielder. Each player now is ex-
pected to do more. Outfielders and Infielders
adjust their positions and responsibilities to
compensate for the gap in center field. The
-undermanned setting creates new obligations
for each participant. Barker's theory has been
supported and extended by Willems (1969)
who finds that the effect of school size on
sense of obligation is stronger for students of
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was provided by school administrators about
the students and the schools. The response
rate in the base year survey was 71 percent,
providing a sample of 16,683 students. This
analysis was limited to public high·schools.
Cases with missing data on one or more
variables have been exlcuded, yielding a sam-
ple of 13,638 students. Due to the nature of
the data, analysis will·proceed on two levels;
the individual and the school. 1) The effect of
community location on individual student par-
ticipation and satisfaction r8'tes will be examin-
ed. 2) The effect of rural location on school
attendance rates and male and female drop-
out rates will be considered. The school level
analysis includes data gathered in the first
follOW-up survey, in which the response rate
was 92 percent. Excluding cases with miss-
ing data, the sample consists of 1060 schools.
Communities are divided into four types:
1) Rural or tanning community; 2) Small town,
under 50,000; 3) City, over 50,000; 4) Suburb
of a city. Schools are classed in Table 1 and
Table 2 as large (L) with more than 150
students enrolled in the senior class, and
small (S) with 150 or fewer students in the
senior class. Indicators of student participa-
tion are based on student responses to a
quest"lOn aboUt their participation or leadership
functions in nine categories of extracurricular
activities. Indicators of satisfaction are based
on questions about Whether they feel that they
are· a part of their school, and whether they
consider required courses in the curriculum
a waste of time. Attendance rate, measured
at the School level, is the approximate average
daily percentage attendance. Dropout rates
for men and women, also measured at the
school level, represent the percentage of
students who enter the tenth grade, but drop
oot before graduation, eXcluding transfers to
other schools.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The advantages of rural schools with respect
to student participation, leadership ex-
perience, and satisfaction are shown in Table
1. Rural schools are higher in all categories
than schools in small towns and cities, Which
in tum, are higher than large city and sub-
urban sChools. Between the latter two types
there is very little difference. Similarly, rural
school attendance rates are considE!rably
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 232
higher than those in other types of com-
munities, as shown in Table 2. Large city at-
tendance rates are the lowest, with small town
and suburban rates about the same. Dropout
rates for men and women are lowest in sub-
urban schools, but rural schools compare
favorably with small town and large city
schools. the main question in this study is
whether differences in individual outcomes
and school rates are due to the community
location or to the size of the school.
The relation between community type and
student outcomes is weaker When school size
is controlled. Generally, men's and women's
participation in extracurricular activities
remains higher in both large and small rural
schools. Results from small schools in cities
and suburbs should be interpreted with
caution, since the sample size for these
groups is small. Leadership experience and
satisfaction tend to be higher for women in
both small and large rural schools, but not for
men. SChool size explains a considerable part
of the advantage of rural schools with regard
to these individual student variables.
In terms of Barker's theory of behavior set-
tings, When the variable to be explained is
behavior of students in schools, the immediate
behavior setting factor, organization size, ap-
pears more important than the wider setting
factor, type ofcommunity. However, there is
an added independent effect of community
location. In accounting for individual dif-
ferences in participation, leadership, and
satisfaction, the community effect is stronger
for women than for men.
SChool rates of attendance and dropouts are
also strongly affected by size of the school.
With school size contrOlled, attendance rates
in rural, small town, and SUburban schools are
about the same, While large city attendance
is poorest. There are insufficient small schools
in Cities and suburbs for meaningful com-
parison. Statements about city and suburban
schools are based on large schools only.
Dropout rates, on the other hand, are lowest
in suburban schools. Size makes an especially
important contribution to the dropout rates in
rural schools. When rural schools are small,
their dropout rates are considerably lower than
rates in similar size schools in small towns.
However, dropout rates among large schools
are higher for rural than for small town
FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 233
TABLE 1: STUDENT ACTIVITY & SATISFACTION BY SEX, SCHOOL SIZE & COMMUNITY TYPE
(Percentages; N values in italics; Gamma decimals omitted.)
Response Rural Town City Suburb Gamma.os
Size: S L S L S L S L S L
Males
2 + activities 69 56 64 53 76 46 58 48 ns -08
Has leader role 38 27 36 28 41 25 28 25 ns ns
Feels Involved 65 62 64 62 57 58 67 60 ns ns
Curriculum OK 51 43 54 46 56 45 48 44 ns ns
(N) 1006 359 518 1404 37 1854 60 1516
Females
2 + activities 80 60 78 61 65 53 62 53 ·16 ·10
Has leader role 46 32 42 29 26 27 31 26 ·16 -0&
Feels Involvad 71 68 68 64 58 61 69 57 ns ·10
Curriculum OK 62 54 61 52 56 49 65 48 ns ns
(N) 996 366 468 1489 62 1948 65 1490
TABLE 2: SCHOOL ATTENDANCE & DROPOUT RATES BY SEX
(Percentages; N values in italics; Gamma, decimals omitted.)
Rural Town City Suburb Gamma.os
Size: S L S L S L S L S L
Attendance
Over 95% 22 11 19 11 33 4 38 10 ns -07
Dropout Rate
Under 5%
Males 52 24 43 38 44 25 63 54 ns 23
Females 62 33 44 45 67 32 63 66 ns 26
(N) 165 54 79 229 9 287 8 229
schools. Among large schools, rural and large
city dropout rates are similar. For the variables
explored here, many, but not all of the advan-
tages of rural schools are explained by their
smaller size, rather than by their community
location. There was no significant difference
comparing students frolTl predominantly farm
families to those from nonfarm families, which
may be due to the small number of schools
where this distinction could be made.
Interesting findings emerge in the com·
parison of males and females. Not only do
girls like school better than boys, but their
rates of participation, leadership, and reten-
tion in school are higher for all types of com-
munity. Less expected, and closely related to
our main interest, is that male-female dif-
ferenc~s are greatest for schools in ruralloca-
tions. This appears in Tables 1 and 2 in the
sex categories. Females are 8 percent more
likely than males to hold leader positions in
rural schools, while their advantage elsewhere
is only about 2 percent. Controlling for school
size, this pattern prevails with few exceptions.
Comparing male and female dropout rates, in
Table 2, while women tend to stay in school
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longer than men, there is no clear pattern of
difference between rural and urban schools.
SUMMARY
The community setting does make some dif-
ference in student participation, satisfaction,
attendance, and dropout rates. However,
much of the rural advantage is due to the
smaller ,size of the rural schools. Small size
seems to reinforce the advantages of rural
schools respecting attendance and dropout
rates, while large rural schools tend to have
low attendnace and high dropout rates. Insofar
as the community type affects student par-
ticipation and satisfaction, this effect is
stronger for women than for men. Finally, the
advantage of women over men in participa-
tion and satisfaction is greater in rural than in
urban schools.
REFERENCES
Baird L 1969 Big school, small school: A critical
examination of the hypothesis. J of Educational
Psych 60 253-260
Barker R G 1978 Habitats, Environments, and
Human &lhavlor. san Francisco Jossey Bass
Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 234
Barker R G, P V Gump 1964 Big Schoo( Small
School' High School Size and Student &lhavlor.
Stanford U Press
Larken R W 1979 Suburban Youth in Cultural
Crisis. New York Oxford U Press
Levy G 1970 Ghetto School: Class Warfare in an
elementary School Syracuse U Press
Lindsay Paul 1982 Effect of high school size on
student participation, satisfaeton and attendance.
Educational Evaluation & Policy Analysis. 457-65
Mead G H 1934 Mind, Self, and Society. Chicago
UPress
Morgan 0 L, 0 F Alwin 1980 When less is more:
School size and social participation. Social Psych
Qtr(y 43 241-252
Peshkin A 1979 Growing Up American: Schooling
and the Survival of Community. Chicago U Press
Riccobono J, L Henderson, G Burkheimer, C
Place, J Levinsohn 1981 National Longitudinal
Study: Base Year (1972) Through Fourth Follow-Up
(1979). Data Fiie US81'S' Manual Washington DC
National Center for Education Statistics.
Sher J 1977 ed Education in Rural America: A
Reassessmant of Conventional WIsdom. Boulder
Colorado Westview Press
Willems E P 1967 sense of obligation to high
school activities as related to school size and
marginality of student. Child Development 38
1247-1260


Community type, school size, and student behavior

Allen, Donald E.

FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY Volume 11 No 2, November 1983 240
THE PROMISE OF FREE INQUIRY IN CREATIVE SOCIOLOGY
Donald E Allen, Editor, 1978·1984
Status Quo 1978: Of some 60 sociology and Tulsa Universities formed the Sociology
periodicals published when I assumed editor- COnsortium and pooled slender resources to
ship, none served the lay reader. All tended support about 60 percent of the printing costs
to be conservative, traditional, and highly for a slick journal edited according to these
selective. SOme took pride in rejection rates principles. Remaining costs were to be met
as high as 90 percent. If any of several by subscriptions, manuscript fees, reprint
~lewets faulted a paper, it was reaetfly re- sales, and other sources which the Editor
jected. Restrictive and rejective editorial might generate. They constituted the Govern-
PractlCe.s' generated uniformity of contentand ing Board of the COnsortium, and specified
~.Articles were remarkably similar that subscription charges must be the same
both within and between journals. Small new to all, regardless of income or endowments,
journals str:ove to duPlicate the model created The publication name was shortened from
by establi$hed journals. Free Inquiry: A JournalofSociological Exp".
Tradition va DIacovery. Nascent sciences sion to the present title. I instructed reviewers
like sociolOgy cannot thrive under the restraint on the purpose and standards of the Journal,
oftradltionalism. Part of socloIogy's problem and invited papers from sociologists of all
is the fear of daring to innovate or to work in brands from all lands. After five years, the
ways which might violate established perspec- Consortium support share dropped to 25 per-
tives. The history of the influential sciences cent. The rejection rate is 30 percent, and 232
is replete with courageous ventures in theory, articles have been published. University
technology, and experimentation. The only library subscriptions have increased from 8 to
well-recognized venturesome thing in 118, including some of the world's most
sociology In the past half-century is Gunnar prestigious. It is planned to invite other
'Myrdal's American Dilemma. American schools to join the Sociology Consortium at
society still feels the aftershocks of this an annualinflatlon-adjusted $100 fee of 1983
eminently serviceable piece of social science. dollarS, with membership on the Governing
FlCS ecological Niche. I thought that the Board and participation in editing services. It
sociology profession needed a channel to the is also planned to rotate the editorship every
lay reader with potential interest in our Ideas, few years, as determined by the Governing
methods, findings, and analyses. It appeared Board. For the sponsoring school the cost Is
that most articles could benefit from editorial quarter time for the editor plus quarter time
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serve much better with a large selection of useful. The challenge is truly invigoratingI
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Finally, the termjouma~ from French jour for editorial compression process. But more
"day" originally meant a daily record of events authors are grateful for the improvement in
and actions, as with the Wall Street Joumal, readability and suitability for publishing. Many
and was later applied to other periodicals. A authors with novel or unusual data and
journal offers a record of contemporary materials are very grateful to find a publishing
thought and action, which means that a outlet. Others are encouraged to seek publica-
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prompt in what it publishes, while not appearing in FREE INQUIRY in CREATIVE
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disseminate new ideas, theories, methods, Deparatment of Justice. Some have been
and data, and new challenges in sociology. useful to United States COngressmen. Many
The SOCiology Consortium. In December are used by undergraduate sociology majors.
1978, the sociology department heads of The lay market existsI We must recognize its
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