Youth are seen as existing in a psycho-social moratorium and seem to be becoming increasingly alienated from our society. Rotter suggests that alienation is related to the variable of internal-external control. Rotter operationalizes his theory in research, but he does not provide an etiology for alienation. Upon examining Rotter's and Keniston's theories, it has been concluded that the two theories are similar, and that Keniston's formulations could be used to extend Rotter's theory by providing it with an etiology. Keniston believes that three societal forces are needed for the development of powerfulness in youth; these forces are presented in detail in this report. The Venturer program of Boy Scouts of Canada is presented as a possible recreational program that helps to develop powerfulness in youth. The program is then considered in light of Keniston's three societal forces, and it is concluded that Venturing does seem to have the necessary elements for the development of powerfulness. Using scores on Rotter's Internal Versus External Control Scale as the dependent variable, the hypothesis teated at the .05 level of significance was that participation in the Venturer program results in greater powerfulness than non-participation in the Venturer program. The research involved a pre-test/post-test design with forty-four Venturers and one hundred six non-Venturers from a large suburban community in Southern Ontario. The results indicated that youth joining the Venturer program have a significantly higher degree of powerfulness when joining Venturers, and also, when the initial difference is statistically controlled with a test of covariance, there is a significant difference in powerfulness between Venturers and non-Venturers over a thirteen month period. This report is of particular importance as it supports the contention that youth participating in the Venturer program develop powerfulness. The rationale for this increase in powerfulness is due to the presence of Keniston's three societal forces. This report also shows how Keniston's etiology of alienation is actually an extension of Rotter's locus of control theory. The findings herein indicate that Venturing is a valuable recreational program that can provide a basis for practical work with adolescents. 1 Gordon H. Hanna, master's thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Ottawa, Ontario, September, 1976, 128 p.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/10732 |
| Date | January 1976 |
| Creators | Hanna, Gordon H. |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 128 p. |
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