EVALUATION
OF
A COLLEGE STUDENT VOLUNTEER PROGRAM
375
helping professions, and the development of viable programs in community mental
health.
REFERENCES
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An
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The effectiveness of secondary prevention programs using non-professionals in the
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Pp.
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Training clinical psychologisbs
for
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An undergraduate practicum in community mental
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DIMENSIONS
OF
SCHOOL-RELATED ATTITUDES IN
MIDDLE-SCHOOL AGE STUDENTS’
KAORU
YAMAMOTO ELIZABETH C. THOMAS AND JACK WIERSMA
Pennsylvania State University University
of
Virginia Calvin College
During the past decade, the semantic differential technique (Jenkins, Russell,
&
Suci, 19.58; Nunnally, 1961; Osgood, Suci,
&
Tannenbaum, 1957) has been widely
employed in studies of attitudes. Nevertheless, its applicability across cultures
(Osgood, 1962) and across age ranges
(Di
Vesta, 1966a) has only recently come
under much investigation. In
a
series of reports on ratings of heterogeneous con-
cepts made by children
of
grades two through seven, Di Vesta and his associates
(Di Vesta, 1966b, 1966c; Di Vesta
&
Dick, 1966) suggested that
(a)
the children’s
semantic structures are very much the same as those of adolescents and adults, the
evaluation, potency, and activity dimensions being salient in both;
(b)
the semantic
differential technique is acceptably stable (1- to 2-day retest
T’S
clustering around
.SO) with children
as
young as the third-graders; and
(c)
the reliability of concept
scores may approach the level obtained for adults
(T’s,
about .90) if at least 15 to
20
subjects are used in the rating process.
In the same vein, the measurement of specific school-related attitudes by the
semantic differential method has not been extensive. Utilizing ratings
of
one con-
cept (school teachers) on
80
scales, obtained from 259 teacher aspirants in a college,
Husek and Wittrock (1962) observed that, rather than separate dimensions
of
‘The authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation
of
Dr.
Edward K. Karns of the Parma
(Ohio) Public Schools in the execution of this study which was supported in part by the University
of
Iowa Graduate College.