Negro and War Attitudes of the Same Persons Assessed at Three Points over a Thirty-Three Year Period

Abstract

Because of recent events regarding the Viet Nam war and the Negro problem in America, 98 persons who had completed Thurstone-type attitude scales in 1935 and 1965 were re-surveyed in 1968. A high response rate (95%) was obtained. Negro attitudes remained stable over the 3- and 33-yr. periods (65.08 = .91, and 35.09 = .73). War attitudes, however, did not remain as stable (65.08 = .56, and 35.08 = .27), because of shifts to neutral positions over the 33-yr. period. A factor analysis of the Negro scale revealed that 9 of the original 16 items were durable through time. Only 10 of the original 22 War-scale items were reliable through the same time period. Results were consistent with the idea that racial attitudes are formed at a very early age and remain rather stable while attitudes such as militarism-pacifism are formed later in life and are more subject to change.