This study assesses the attitudes of resident college students and staffs toward the concept in loco parents as it pertains to residence hall administration. It also describes relationships between attitudes toward in loco parentis combinations of four demographic variables: university, status (staff or resident) academic level, and sex. The chi-square analysis indicated thirty-one significant relationships between attitudes toward the eleven residence hall situations and the four demographic variables. Major findings indicated that: (a) resident students and staffs were ambiguous toward in loco parents; (b) resident students and staffs were for or against in loco parents depending upon the situation (eleven situations are discussed); (c) attitudes of resident students and staffs were similar in most situations; and (d) the majority of resident students and staff members felt positively toward an objective description of in loco parentis, but this attitude did not prevail when the concept was manifested in university staff behavior in typical residence hall situations.

"The purpose of the study is two-fold: (1) to compare the 1939-40 living conditions that prevailed in the men's college dormitory with living conditions that existed in sixteen college-supervised residences for men; (2) to compare the living conditions that existed in 1939-40 in both the men's dormitory and the college-supervised residences for men with standards set up by authorities in the field of college student housing."--1.