Birth Order,Religiosity,College Major,and Attitudes toward Women in the Work Force

Abstract

The relationship between birth order, religiosity, college major, and attitudes toward women in the work force was studied using a questionnaire which reflected birth order, college major, number of church-related functions attended per month, and five questions which determined a numerical score related to one's attitude toward working women. Subjects were 99 male college students from William Carey College, 31 business majors and 68 majoring in the helping professions. It was hypothesized that firstborns would have lower scores on the questions relating to working women and therefore more negative attitudes toward this subject, religiosity would be directly related to one's attitude toward the working woman, and there would be a significant difference between college majors, with business majors having the most negative attitude concerning female workers. Data did not support the first hypothesis but did support the second, business majors had significantly lower scores.