Group Membership, Status, and Contact Effects on Male Sex-Role Attitudes,
Abstract
This report shows how contact between men and women cadets at West Point affected the attitudes of the men toward women's roles in society and women at West Point specifically. An earlier report showed that contact with women during the first summer training tended to result in relatively negative attitudes among plebes in the same squad. This study focuses on the effects of interaction during the first Academic Year of Women at West Point, both among plebes and among upperclass males, in integrated and segregated companies. For involuntary contact, resulting from assignment to an integrated company, the results were complex, depending on the class year of the cadet, his particular regiment, and the attitude variable being considered. Such contact between the sexes was not effective in reducing prejudice, although there were exceptions for some regiments. For voluntary contacts, such as attending women's basketball games, belonging to extracurricular clubs with women, or dating, the more contact a male had, the more positive his attitude. The results are generally consistent with Amir's theory of intergroup contact as a means of company-level and regimental climate. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1978
- Accession Number
- ADA077823
Entities
People
- Robert F. Priest
Organizations
- United States Military Academy