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This paper is an analysis of American's opinions on government spending on Social Security. The main objectives were to analyze the effect of year and cohort membership on the likelihood for American's to say that they think the government is spending too little on Social Security. The data was obtained from the General Social Survey. Results of the analysis conclude that year is statistically significant in predicting the likelihood of those who say the government is spending too little on Social Security. When comparing every year to 1994, 1996 is the only year that year that respondents were less likely to respond that the government was spending too little on Social Security. Every other test year, up to and including 2004, there is a growing likelihood of respondents indicating that the government is spending too little on Social Security. Finally, cohort membership was included in the analysis. Results conclude that the Swing cohort and the Babyboom cohort are statistically significant in predicting opinions on government spending on Social Security when being compared to the youngest cohort, the Babyboomlet-bust cohort. However, the results of the analysis show opposite direction in opinions between these two cohorts. Interestingly, the only cohort not statistically significant is the Silent generation.

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Leaders are generally viewed in a positive frame as having the ability to influence and motivate others (Tierney, 2005). They are frequently required to make choices in order to lead their organizations. Those choices are often influenced by the opinions of followers and public opinion in general (McIntosh, Cacciola, Clermont & Keniry, 2001). Understanding the opinion formation process, how leaders formulate opinions and how they make choices in leading their organizations is still at issue (Burns, 1978; Gardner, 1990). One of the goals of higher education is to create student leaders who are contributing members of society and who are able to generate informed opinions. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of student-student interactions on change of opinion among student leaders (SLs) and non-student leaders (NSLs). This study compared differences between student leaders and non-student leaders, and sought to examine which types of discussions with students different from oneself, best predict change in opinion. Data from the 2004 College Student Experience Questionnaire (CSEQ) (Pace, 1984) were used in the study. The CSEQ asks respondents about their involvement with leadership experiences and the degree to which they have influenced others' opinions and been influenced by others' opinions. Participants also report how often they have become acquainted with or had discussions with other students who are different from themselves based on several characteristics. These characteristics referred to individuals who had different interests, philosophies of life or personal values, political opinions, religious beliefs, race or ethnic backgrounds, family backgrounds or were from different countries. Data were analyzed via logistic regression and t-tests. Findings revealed that discussions with other students who are different from oneself in regards to political values and country of origin lead to higher levels of opinion change. Opinion change, then, is influenced by specific types of discussions, and these discussions have an even greater influence on SLs than NSLs. In addition, highly involved SLs engage in discussions with others different from oneself significantly more often than less involved SLs for each of the seven types of discussions. / Ph. D.