This study investigated the cross-cultural differences between 336 Caucasian and 67 American Indian adolescents in a rural area of the Pacific Northwest. Participants completed the Rokeach Value Survey-Form G, the Modified World Affairs Questionnaire, selected items from a nuclear freeze questionnaire, the Nuclear Attitudes Questionnaire, and selected demographic items. American Indians placed a higher priority on the values of family security, social recognition, helpfulness, and obedience than their Caucasian peers and a lower priority on freedom, ambition, independence, and capability than their Caucasian peers. They also demonstrated less pessimism about the effectiveness of civil defense measures, less hesitancy to escalate in a nuclear confrontation, and less pessimism about the effectiveness of actions to bring about a nuclear freeze.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Axtell, H. (1983). Seven drum religion of the Nez Perce. Lecture given at Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, ID.
2.
Ball-Rokeach, S. , Rokeach, M., & Grube, J. (1984). The great American value test. New York: Free Press.
3.
Blackwell, P. L. , & Gessner, J. C. (1983). Fear and trembling: An inquiry into adolescent perceptions of living in the nuclear age. Youth & Society, 15 (2), 237-255.
4.
Bryde, J. F. (1972). Indian students and guidance. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
5.
Catlin, G. (1842). Letters and notes on the manners, customs, and conditions of the North American Indians (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 108-109). New London: Tilt & Bogue.
6.
Feather, N. T. (1975). Values in education and society. New York: Free Press.
7.
Fishbein, M. , & Ajzen, I. (1975). Beliefs, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
8.
French, L. (1987). Psychocultural change and the American Indian. New York: Garland.
9.
Fumham, A. F. (1984). Value systems and anomie in three cultures. International Journal of Psychology, 19 (6), 565-579.
10.
Gill, S. D. (1982). Native American religions: An introduction. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
11.
Helkama, K. , Salminen, S., Uutela, A. (1987). A world at peace as a personal value in Finland: Its relationship to demographic characteristics, political identification, and type of moral reasoning. In K. Helkama & A. Uutela (Eds.), Current research on peace and violence. Tampere, Finland: Tampere Peace Institute.
12.
Hopfe, L. M. (1987). Religions of the world (4th ed.). New York: Macmillan.
13.
Josephy, A. M., Jr. (1965). The Nez Perce Indians and the opening of the PacificNorthwest. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
14.
Kluckhohn, F. R. (1953). Dominant and variant value orientations. In C. Kluckhohn & H. Murray (Eds.), Personality in nature, society, and culture (pp. 342-360). New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
15.
Kluckhohn, F. R. , & Strodtbeck, F. L. (1961). Variations in value orientations. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
16.
Mayton, D. M. (1987a, April). The value of a world at peace and national security: Trends and correlates. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Western Psychological Association, Long Beach, CA.
17.
Mayton, D. M. (1987b, April). Value-attitude relationships regarding peace and national security in adolescents. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Political Psychology, San Francisco, CA.
18.
Mayton, D. M. (1988). The psychometric characteristics of the modified world affairs questionnaire. Psychology, 25, 50-58.
19.
McClenney, J. T. , & Neiss, R. (1984, August). Responses to the threat of nuclear war: An experimental study of attitudes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
20.
Newcomb, M. D. (1986). Nuclear attitudes and reactions: Associations with depression, drug use and quality of life. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50 (5), 911-920.
21.
Newcomb, M. D. (1987). Background, personality, and behavioral correlates of nuclear anxiety. Personality and Individual Differences, 9 (2), 379-389.
22.
Rokeach, M. (1973). The nature of human values. New York: Free Press.
23.
Rokeach, M. (Ed.). (1979). Understanding human values. New York: Free Press.
24.
Spinden, H. J. (1964, reprinted). The Nez Perce Indians. New York: Krause.
25.
Trimble, J. E. (1976). Value differences among American Indians: Concerns for the concerned counselor. In P. Pedersen, J. Draguns, W. Lonner, & J. Trimble (Eds.), Counseling across cultures (pp. 65-81). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
26.
Trimble, J. E. (1981). Value differentials and their importance in counseling American Indian students. In P. Pedersen, J. Draguns, W. Lonner, & J. Trimble (Eds.), Counseling across cultures (2nd ed., pp. 203-226). Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
27.
Zweigenhaft, R. L. (1985). Race, sex, and nuclear war. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 11(3), 283-301.
