Adolescents' Attitudes about Nuclear War

Abstract

913 students from 6 junior and senior high schools in California responded to a 20-item questionnaire using 4-point Likert-type ratings to indicate their 3 greatest worries, to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, and nuclear-war-related items. On forced-choice items concerns were parents dying for 53.5%, getting bad grades for 37.0%, and nuclear war for 31.9%; however, the three greatest worries were parents dying for 54.9%, nuclear war for 32.8%, and bad grades for 25.9%. Older adolescents were less worried than younger ones, but there were no differences for sex or socioeconomic status, or for race on several items. On derived factor scores students classified as high in worry (about nuclear war) scored higher on Social Issues than low worriers but scored lower on Psychosocial Concerns. Implications for education are discussed.