Abstract
A total of 1004 male and female college students completed Cautela and Kastenbaum's (1967) Reinforcement Survey Schedule. Factor analysis of item intercorrelations for the entire sample and for males and females taken separately revealed similar factor structures, and sixteen common scales were derived from the more substantial factors. Comparisons of the scale profiles of the male and female students indicated that the scales were ordered in the same way, but that the absolute levels of preference differed. The students and a smaller sample of male industrial workers (n = 62) also were surveyed about their illicit use of drugs. Profiles differed as a function of drug use, although the patterns were dissimilar for the students and the workers. These findings showed the utility of dividing responses to the Reinforcement Survey Schedule into scales, as well as the value of the survey for the study of reinforcers in natural settings. However, it was cautioned that scale scores complement rather than substitute for analyses of responses to individual items, and that revision of the survey is needed to clarify the content of some of the scales.
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