Differences in Adolescent School Attitudes as a Function of Academic Level, Ethnicity, and Gender

Abstract

The present study investigated the relations between dimensions of adolescents' attitudes toward school and their academic level, ethnicity, and gender. The Survey of School Attitudes, assessing four aspects of school attitudes, was administered to a sample of 1,140 eighth graders. Students were stratified by academic level (regular class, educationally marginal, learning handicapped), ethnicity (Anglo, Black, and Chicano), and gender. Results showed that regular class students held more favorable attitudes toward reading and social studies than did educationally marginal and learning handicapped students; the latter groups did not differ on several scales. Anglo students expressed less favorable attitudes than did the combined Black and Chicano samples on all four attitude scales. Gender differences in attitudes toward reading favored females; differences in attitudes toward science favored males. Implications of these results are discussed in terms of social comparisons.