This study assessed the differences between
teachers'opinions and students' responses regarding the
influence of clothing on adolescents' decisions to
participate in social activities.
Survey methodology was used with the final samples
consisting of 336 students and 140 teachers who were drawn
from six high schools located in economically depressed and
non-depressed areas of the state of Oregon. All of the
predominantly female students were enrolled in home
economics classes. Their ages ranged from thirteen to
twenty years with the mode being 16 years. The teachers
taught a variety of subjects that spanned from science and
math to liberal arts. The majority of the teachers had
been working in their profession for eleven or more years.
On the student and teacher questionnaires the question
was asked why students did not participate in social events
or school extracurricular activities. The following
response choices were listed on both questionnaires: a)
My parents will not let me go; b) I do not have the "right"
clothes to wear; c) I don't have enough money; d) I really
do not have any interest in going. On the teachers'
questionnaire two additional reasons were listed: e) I do
not have transportation; f) It conflicts with my work. A
7-point Likert type scale was used.
The statistical treatment of data included descriptive
statistics, t-test calculations and qualitative analysis.
It was hypothesized that feelings of perceived clothing
deprivation (not having "the right clothes to wear") would
be the most important reason that students do not attend a
social event. This hypothesis was based on previous
literature that suggested clothing is very important during
the adolescent stage of development. Contrary to this
hypothesis, the students' mean scores revealed that not
having the "right clothes" was the least important reason
for not attending of the four reasons listed.
As hypothesized, teachers rated not having "the right
clothes to wear" as the least important factor for students
deciding not to attend a social event. This hypothesis was
exploratory in nature. One of the most important findings
of this study was that teachers and students responded in
the same pattern. This was not what was expected, but it
was conceptually interesting to know they think alike
rather than differently. / Graduation date: 1991
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/38132 |
| Date | 01 May 1991 |
| Creators | Demissee, Debbra W. |
| Contributors | Francis, Sally K. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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