Sandra Bowman Damico

Class Clowns: A Study of Middle School Students

From a sample of 3,500 eighth-grade pupils, 96 class clowns were identified by peer nominations on a sociometric form. These pupils were compared to a randomly selected sample of 237 nonclown classmates on the bases of teacher ratings and student self-esteem and school-attitude measures. Clowns were found to be predominantly males. Clowns were seen by their teachers to be higher than nonclowns in Asserting, Unruliness, Attention Seeking, Leadership, and Cheerfulness, and to be lower in Accomplishing. Clowns report lower attitudes toward teacher and principal than do nonclowns and see themselves as leaders and as being vocal in expressing ideas and opinions in front of their classmates.

Role Conflict in Women as a Function of Marital Status

Questionnaires on eight role conflict categories (Time Management, Relations with Husband, Household Management, Financial, Child Care, Expectations for Self, Expectations of Others, and Guilt) were administered to 518 women. Marital status was found to be a significant variable with married women expressing more conflict than other women. Never married and formerly married women did not differ significantly from each other. The results further suggested the existence of a generalized role expectation for women and the importance of the husband in marriage.

The Two Worlds of School: Differences in the Photographs of Black and White Adolescents.

A growing body of literature indicates that the socialization experiences of blacks causes them to focus onpeople stimuli while Whites learn to focus onobjects. If so, these differences may impact on school performance. This study sought to determine whether the photographs of school taken by black and white adolescents attending three middle schools would reflect race differences in people vs. object orientation. And they did. Moreover, the analyses of the photographs revealed significant race differences in who were included within them, type taken, where they were taken, and the themes they represented. Black students were found to have less affective attachment to school, including teachers, than did whites. Implications for educators are drawn from these findings.

Developmental Components of Role Conflict in Women

Abstract The effect of age on role conflict in women was studied. Five hundred and eighteen women with a broad range of age, education, social class, and family status volunteered to complete a role conflict questionnaire covering the categories of Time Management, Relations with Husband, Household Management, Financial, Child Care, Expectations for Self, Expectations of Others, and Guilt. The role conflict areas found to be most affected by age were Relations with Husband, Child Care, Guilt, and Financial. Age was found to be a significant variable, with those women between 25 and 39 expressing more conflict than those either younger or older than themselves.

Family Size and Role Conflict in Women

The effect of family size on role conflict in women was studied. Five hundred and eighteen women with a broad range of age, education, social class, and family status volunteered to complete a role conflict questionnaire covering the categories of Time Management, Relations with Husband, Household Management, Financial, Child Care, Expectations for Self, Expectations of Others, and Guilt. The highest levels of stress were reported for the categories of Time Management and Expectations for Self for all women, and Child Care for women with children. The role conflict areas found to be most affected by family size were Child Care and Relations with Husband. In general there appears to be a stress period of adjustment when a woman becomes a mother and another stress period when she has had a fairly large number of children.

Role of Extracurricular Activities in the Promotion of Cross-Race Contact by White Students from High School to College

A series of school extracurricular activities and types of personal, informal interactions were developed to reflect the various types of interracial contact situations defined by Gordon Allport inThe Nature of Prejudice. These were used to determine whether cross-race contact through participation in extracurricular activities in high school could be used to predict cross-race contact at the university. Canonical correlations indicted that, for whites, frequency of cross-race contact while in high school is a predictor of frequent cross-race contact at the university. Additionally, those who gain experience in cross-racial situations through participation in Supportive Norm or Cooperative Interdependent activities in high school are likely to engage in Equal Status forms of contact at the University.