Parental Attitudes and the Closed Belief-Disbelief System

Rokeach's Dogmatism Scale and eight scales of the father's form of the Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI) were administered to 108 male undergraduates in a most highly selective college during the Fall semester, another group of 78 male undergraduates in the same college during the Spring semester, and a third group of 125 male undergraduates in a much less selective college. The scales used were “Fostering Dependency,” “Seclusiveness,” “Breaking the Will,” “Harsh Punishment,” “Demanding Activity,” “Deification of Parent,” “Ascendancy of Husband,” and “Suppression of Affection.” 23 of the 24 comparisons between the Dogmatism Scale and the eight PARI scales show positive correlations beyond the .01 level. The remaining correlation was positive but not significant. The results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that closed-minded people tend to hold parental attitudes which encourage their offspring not to intrude upon their belief-disbelief system and thus to promote a similar dogmatic approach in these children.