William H. McBroom

Toward a Reconceptualization of Attitude-Behavior Consistency

The attitude-behavior relationship has had a prominent place in social and behavioral science for more than a half-century. The initial expectations of strong asymmetrical causality have not been borne out, and contemporary research suggests that attitude-behavior consistency is a highly complex phenomenon. This paper undertakes a conceptual analysis based or the simplest longitudinal case in order to make explicit some overlooked features of the attitude-behavior relationship

Longitudinal change in sex role orientations: Differences between men and women

Longitudinal comparisons over the five-year period of 1975–1980 show that both men and women have significantly lessened in sex role traditionalism. The change among women, further, is significantly greater than that for men. Using multiple regression analysis it is found that for women, entry into marriage, but not employment, is associated with lessened traditionalism. For men, it is not entry into marriage, but continuation in it that seems important. Restricting attention only to those who are married shows a general effect of the importance of role demands for women. For married men, none of the predictor variables are important.

Changes in sex-role orientations: A five-year longitudinal comparison

A longitudinal design employing survey techniques and a cohort structure is used to assess change in a Likert-type measure of sex-role traditionalism. The overall change during a five-year period was for respondents to decrease in traditionalism. This varied importantly for subgroups: Women changed more than men, and those of the most recent cohort changed more than those in either of the earlier cohorts. Trends suggesting the importance of role incumbency are noted and implications are discussed.

Changes in Role Orientations of Women: A Study of Sex Role Traditionalism over a Five-Year Period

Longitudinal data were used to estimate the extent to which changes in life situations affected sex role traditionalism of women during a five-year period. An overall decrease in traditionalism was found, which was more pronounced for younger women. Multiple regression analysis indicated that experiences such as becoming married, having a child, and becoming employed were associated with lessened traditionalism. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Intergenerational Transmission of Values: A Data-Based Reassessment

Research in intergenerational transmission of values has found only weak evidence for its thesis. Data from college students are here used to produce two measures of youth-parent agreement. Indicators of family structure are found to be important in predicting both measures. One of the measures allows the prediction of behavior. Youth-parent agreement was found to be a powerful influence on behavior, but not significantly moreso than using attitude alone. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Recent Trends in Conservatism: Evidence of Non-Unitary Patterns

Abstract While some theoretical models of conservatism seemingly posit it to be a relatively stable personality characteristic, such approaches do not easily explain changes in individual or societal levels of conservatism. Recent research has assumed that increasing conservatism is general and unitary. The present study uses both trend data and true longitudinal data to examine changes in three different indicators of conservatism: political-economic conservatism, sex-role traditionalism and opposition to abortion. Analyses of trend data show the direction of political-economic increases in conservatism and opposition to abortion over the fifteen-year period 1971–1986. Sex-role traditionalism decreased, however, for the first but not the latter part of the same time period. Longitudinal comparisons for three separate cohorts show similar results for the period 1975 to 1980. Not only do these findings show that all measures of conservatism fail to exhibit the same trends, but also it is demonstrated that ...

Access to health care and travel for birthing: Native American-white differentials in Montana

Abstract The location of medical services critically affects access to health care. We examine the extent to which the spatial distribution of health care resources allows expectant mothers to give birth in the county where they live or forces them to travel elsewhere for obstetrical care. We focus on native American-white differentials in access and travel because little is known about inter-racial differences involving native American Indians. Montana birth records for the period 1980–1989 are used to identify the degree to which women leave the county of residence to give birth. Thirty-seven percent of births to native American mothers involved travel, compared to 19% of births to whites. Sixty-one percent of births to whites were to mothers residing in counties with relatively high levels of obstetrical care (Level II hospitals), while that proportion for native Americans was only 18%. Of women who traveled, 65% of whites gave birth in counties with a Level II hospital, compared to 40% of native Americans. Results of logistic regression suggest that the distribution of health care facilities in the county of residence largely explains travel for birthing. Inter-racial differences in travel turn out to be minimal when the spatial distribution of health care resources is taken into consideration, and both groups act similarly when faced with the same level of health care resources. Suggestions to improve the delivery of health care in rural areas are offered.

The Influence of Mothers and Fathers on the Status Self-Placement of College Youth

Despite the existence of theoretical statements to the effect that status dependents directly derive their own status from the adult male head of the household, there is little systematic research in support. Survey data from university students is made homogeneous on several dimensions and then subjected to regression analyses predicting the self-placement of these youths using status indicators of both mother and father. Among the findings are that the objective indicators are of little importance, that subjective definition of mothers is more important than that of fathers in ones self-placement, and that there are sex-specific effects. The implications of these findings are discussed.