Graduate Program

College Student Affairs

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Semester of Degree Completion

2007

Thesis Director

Charles Eberly

Thesis Committee Member

James Wallace

Thesis Committee Member

Steven Conn

Abstract

This thesis addressed the issue of hazing and specifically the potential relationship of three demographic factors, race, gender, and membership status, on student attitudes about hazing. This research to improve the understanding about what motivates individuals to engage in such behavior is designed to provide help to practitioners in creating better prevention and education about hazing.

An on-line survey was used to collect data from students at a large, public, Research I institution in the Mid-west. The survey was based on Sedlacek and Brook's (1970) Situational Attitudes Scale. The original instrument was modified to fit the topic of hazing. It presented 18 hazing scenarios to participants. Each scenario was followed by a semantic differential scale that assessed the individual's attitude about the scenario. The scenarios were written to correspond with documented hazing cases taken from Nuwer's online hazing clearinghouse (http://hazing.hanknuwer.com/).

The results of the survey indicated that there is potential for race, gender and membership status to influence an individual's attitude about hazing incidents. Recommendations for practitioners working with K-12 students, college students, and employees are provided.

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