Sex Differences in the Religious Attitudes of Catholic College Students
In the course of a more intensive study on students' motivation, data were collected concerning the religious attitudes of undergraduate students in two classes of a Catholic college. Two indices of religious attitudes were obtained: scores on Le Moyne Religion Test (LMRT), measuring religious knowledge, and scores on an inventory measuring Ss' voluntary participation (RP) in two purely religious organizations on the campus. Some findings, referring mainly to the 362 male Ss, were published earlier (Kosa, et al., 1958, 1961;l Schommer, et al., 1960). A few additional observations concerning the 174 female Ss, although often negative, may contribute to our knowledge of sex differences in religious attitudes. The observable differences in performance by the two sexes may be summed u p as follows. ( a ) The mean score of female Ss on LMRT was significantly higher than that of males ( P < .O1 on two-tailed t test), and their mean RP score was also somewhat higher than that of the males ( . I0 > P > .05 on i' test). ( b ) When the background characteristics of socio-economic status, ethnic origin, and attendance at parochial schools were held consrant, in each category females tended to score higher on LMRT than males. The magnitude and significance of the sex differences were more pronounced in categories with relatively low mean scores (such as, working class, Italian group, graduates of public school) than in categories with relatively high mean scores (such as middle class, Irish group, graduates of parochial schools). ( c ) The male Ss' performance on LMRT and RP showed significant ( p = .05 level or better) variations by the following background characterisrics: ethnic origin, socio-economic status, attendance at parochial schools, size of parental family; while the females' performance did not show significant variations. ( d ) Performance on LMRT was positively correlated with performance on tests of scholastic achievement and aptitude (grade-point average, O.S.U. Aptitude, Trigg's Reading Speed, O.S.U. Reading Comprehension, Cooperative English Mechanics, Purdue English Grammatical Classification, Le Moyne Mathematics), but the correlations were consistently lower among females than among males. The r values ranged from .37 to .61 among males, and from .18 to .52 among females. ( e ) Among males, RP scores yielded significant ( P < .01) contingency correlations with scores on two scholastic tests (O.S.U. Apritude and Reading Comprehension), but not among females.