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ADOLESCENT PERCEPTION OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF RURAL WHITE AND NATIVE AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF ALCOHOL-RELATED AND NONALCOHOL-RELATED PEER PROBLEM BEHAVIOR
Abstract
A review of the current research on adolescents' perception of deviant social behavior reveals that the manner in which youth perceive peer problem behavior remains relatively unexamined. Therefore, a study of rural native and white adolescents' perceptions of peer problem behavior was conducted with fifty-eight juniors (71% Native American; 29% white) from an American Indian reservation high school and 84 juniors (100% white) from a comparable non-reservation school. They responded to self-administered questionnaires which assessed perceptions of hypothetical peer problem behaviors. Eight brief descriptions (35-40 word vignettes) of common teenage problem behaviors, i.e., withdrawal, destructiveness, rebelliousness, anxiousness, depression, lying, day-dreaming and aggressiveness were presented. The results of the study indicate that the inner vs outer-direction of the behavior had the most pronounced effect on subjects' perception of the vignettes. For example, students rated the outer-directed behavior as more serious than the inner-directed behavior and viewed themselves as feeling friendlier toward the actor manifesting inner-directed problem behavior. Subjects also expressed greater fear of the outer-directed behaviors and more sympathy for the actor with inner-directed problem behavior. Ratings across the alcohol and nonalcohol questionnaires indicated that subjects would be less friendly toward an individual manifesting alcohol-related problem behavior than nonalcohol problem behavior and revealed significant differences in students' perceptions of the causal determinants of alcohol and nonalcohol behaviors. Significant sex differences revealed that females viewed problem behaviors as more serious, expressed more sympathy toward the actor, and perceived the actors to be more in control of their behavior. Native American and white subjects did not produce major differences in their perceptions of the problem behaviors although interactions with other variables occurred on several measures. For example, native adolescents rated alcohol-related problem behavior as more serious than nonalcohol problem behavior and viewed alcohol problems as determined more by family problems than alcohol-related problem behaviors. They also rated alcohol problems as more serious than nonalcohol-related problems and selected different help resources than white students for both the vignette actor and themselves.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
COATS, GARY LEE, "ADOLESCENT PERCEPTION OF DEVIANT BEHAVIOR: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF RURAL WHITE AND NATIVE AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS' PERCEPTIONS OF ALCOHOL-RELATED AND NONALCOHOL-RELATED PEER PROBLEM BEHAVIOR" (1982). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI8228147.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI8228147