Publication Date

4-1-1972

Degree Program

Department of Psychology

Degree Type

Master of Arts

Abstract

College students, even of the same religious preference, attend church functions with varying degrees o£ frequency. What factors influence the rate of attendance among students? This study investigated the relationship between reported church attendance and personality and achievement variables in a group of college juniors and seniors in a state university in the South. It was hypothesized that there would be no significant differences between students who reported attendance at church functions either (a) 7 or more times per month (High Attenders), (b) 2 through b times per month (Attenders), or (c) 1 or 0 times per month (Low Attenders) on grade-point standings and scores on the MMP1, Study of Values (SV), and the Form T Inventory of Beliefs. 49 students, both male and female, were included in the final study. Findings were accepted as significant at p < .05 following analysis of the separate variables both between the three groups and between sexes using the analysis of variance technique. Differences between the sexes were found on the Mf scale of the MMPIt as would be expected, and the Si scale of the same instrument. This difference on the Si scale revealed that females were more reserved in unfamiliar social situations than were males. No differences were found between the three groups in respect to grade-point standings, scores on the Form T Inventory of Beliefs, or the scales on the MMPI. Significant differences were found to exist between the groups on three scales of the SV. Low Attenders scored higher on the economic scale than did either of the other groups while the group mean scores on the theoretical scale varied inversely with the amount of reported church attendance. Scores on the religious scale were in direct correspondence to the number of times of church attendance, i.e. High Attenders scoring highest and Low Attenders scoring lowest on this scale. Sex and values as measured by the SV emerge from this study as the major variables affecting the rate of church attendance. Several factors suggest that differences between the 3 groups might have been found on other variables as well, if the groups had been compared within only one sex.

Disciplines

Psychology

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