| Description |
The problem: The general purpose of this study was to test certain inferred relationships between the authoritarian and nonauthoritarian personalities, as defined by Adorno and his colleagues, and age, years since graduation, length of general nursing and psychiatric nursing experience, and the type of nursing education background of a group of psychiatric nurses. A number of predictions were made about the relationships between The Authoritarian Personality F Scale and these items of sociological data. The basis for constructing these hypotheses resulted from descriptions of authoritian and nonauthoritarian people by Adorno and numerous other investigators. Comparisons of these descriptions led to the following hypotheses: A direct relationship would be found between F Seale scores and age, years since graduation, length of experience in general nursing and length of experience in psychiatric nursing. A relationship would be found between F scores and the type of educational background, thus the graduates of hospital schools of nursing would score higher. No relationship would be found between F scores and the type of position held in psychiatric nursing. Methods and procedures: In order to test the hypotheses, the F Scale was administered to a group of 244 registered nurses employed in both public and private hospitals and general hospital psychiatric wards in twelve Western states. The psychiatric nurse sample was characterized by a wide range of age, graduation dates, lengths of experience in both general nursing and psychiatric nursing, and they represented six levels of nursing educational background. In order to test the hypotheses concerning the relationships between F Scale scores and each of the variables, a product-moment correlation coefficient was computed between F scores and age, years since graduation, length of general nursing experience and psychiatric nursing experience for the entire group, and for various subgroups within the sample. As a further means of analyzing the data, a t-ratio test of the difference between mean scores was made between the mean scores of the groups representing each of the six levels of educational background. Statistical comparisons were also made between nurses in staff nurse, supervisory, administrative and educational positions in psychiatric nursing. The sample was further compared by testing differences between mean scores of a random sample of nurses working in private hospitals, general hospital psychiatric wards and public hospitals. Similar comparisons were made on a random sample of nurses working in each of the twelve states represented in the sample. The resultsf: In testing the predictions made in this study the following results were obtained: 1. A significant positive correlation existed between the F Scale scores and age. The hypothesis was upheld for the entire sample and for the two main subgroups within the sample, the hospital graduate nurses and nurses with college degrees. 2. A significant positive relationship existed between F Scale scores and years since graduation. This hypothesis was upheld for the entire sample and for the two main subgroups. 3. A significant positive relationship existed between the length of experience in general nursing and F Scale scores. This hypothesis was upheld for both main subgroups as well as the entire sample. 4. No significant relationship existed between F Scale scores and the length of experience in psychiatric nursing. However, a significant relationship existed between F scores and years of psychiatric nursing experience when the influence of age on F scores was nullified. 5. A significant difference existed between the mean F scores of hospital graduate nurses and nurses with college degrees. The hypothesis predicting a relationship between the type of nursing educational background and F Scale scores was upheld. 6. No significant difference existed between mean F scores of nurses in different positions in psychiatric nursing. This hypothesis was upheld. 7. Mean F scores for this sample were lower than those found by Adorno and his collaborators in their California studies. 8. No significant difference existed between the mean F scores of nurses working in different types of psychiatric hospitals. 9. No significant difference existed between the mean F scores of nurses working in different states. 1. Assuming that the F Scale is a valid measure of authoritarian tendencies in the personality structure, it would seem that descriptions made by Adorno and many others, of the authoritarian and nonauthoritarian person are applicable to this sample of psychiatric nurses. 2. The variables Adorno postulated as making up the authoritarian personality are not as prominent among the sample group of psychiatric nurses as they were among the population on which the F Scale was validated, since the psychiatric nurse sample had lower mean F scores than the validation group. 3. Important factors which influence scores on the California F Scale include age and educational background. |
