Student attitudes to the nuclear arms race (1984 survey). Research Report

This is a study of students' knowledge, attitudes, expectations and fears about the nuclear arms race. It was conducted during October 1984 on a sample of 659 upper high school and first year University students in Western Australia. The results indicate a high degree of concern about the nuclear arms race, with females expressing more concern than males. Tertiary students expressed greater anxiety and pessimism about the arms race than high school students. The most common reactions were expressed in terms of fear, anger and frustration. Some students indicated that fears about nuclear war had affected their career and family plans. There was overwhelming support for the proposition that the Government should supply more information about the effects of nuclear war. The level of knowledge of the students about nuclear weapons was adequate only on the non-technical aspects. The survey did not indicate any correlation between increased knowledge about nuclear weapons and increased anxiety. Amongst all groups there was strong support for the nuclear freeze as an initial step towards nuclear disarmament. Many students advocate political action such as marches, demonstrations and lobbying campaigns to reduce the threat of nuclear war. The authors conclude that students are very worried about nuclear war and that they want more information about nuclear weapons. The results indicate that this information is unlikely to have an adverse psychological impact on the students

Nuclear knowledge and nuclear anxiety: A cross-cultural investigation

Based on survey responses of 1,115 male and female secondary school, college, and university students in North Carolina, California, England, and Western Australia, this study explored the relationship between the students' knowledge of nuclear weapons (“nuclear knowledge”) and (a) anxiety about nuclear war, (b) expectations about conditions in the aftermath of a nuclear attack, and (c) various attitudes about nuclear weapons. No consistent relationship was found between nuclear knowledge and nuclear anxiety for any of the samples. A consistent relationship existed between nuclear knowledge and expectations about the aftermath of a nuclear attack: In each group, those who knew more were more likely to be pessimistic about the conditions in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Although there were significant relationships between nuclear knowledge and various attitudes about nuclear weapons, the magnitude and the direction of these relationships varied from group to group

Employees' perceptions of their leaders: Is being similar always better?

Using a sample of middle and upper level managers, the authors examined the effects of employee-supervisor demographic similarity on employees' perceptions of their supervisor's leadership ability. The authors also examined the moderating effects of individuals' needs for self-continuity and the status of the demographic groups on these relationships. Very little evidence was found for direct similarity effects. However, the authors found strong and consistent evidence that employees in high-status demographic groups exhibited a positive relationship between self-continuity and perceptions of their leaders when the leader was demographically similar, whereas employees in low-status demographic groups exhibited a negative relationship between self-continuity and perceptions of their leaders when the leader was demographically similar. Implications for social identity theory and relational demography research are discussed.open1