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Document Type

Thesis

Date of this Version

4-28-1944

Citation

Thesis (M.A.)—University of Nebraska—Lincoln, 1944. Department of Home Economics.

Comments

Copyright 1944, the author. Used by permission.

Abstract

This study has sought to find what relation certain measurable aspects of family background and of personal development have to girls’ cooperativeness in this particular cooperative situation.The basic procedure was to have forty-seven of the residents living in the Love Memorial Cooperative Residence Hall for Women during the 1942-43 school year rate each other on a scale that included many items concerning a girl’s work and general quality of cooperative living in the dormitory.

The following implications are drawn for those who are in charge of a residence hall of this type:

  1. Some of the girls who have lived away from home before moving to the cooperative dormitory will need to be encouraged to maintain high standards in all of these aspects of cooperative living.

  2. A number of girls from families in which there are two or three children may need help; encouragement should be given them to make sure that they do their share in the cooperative situation.

  3. Girls who are the youngest of the children in their families may be more inclined to conform less to the group life; perhaps they do not recognize this tendency in themselves and need to be helped to recognize it before they can do something about it.

  4. The tendency for freshmen to be in the lower third in social skill, conformity to group living, and personal qualities is not surprising nor alarming; they are learning fast and improvement can be expected. However, the juniors and the seniors may need to be impressed with the importance of maintaining high standards.

The following implications for parents are drawn from the analysis of the data:

  1. Parents whose families are composed of two or three children should be especially careful to see that their children not only have many opportunities to cooperate, but that they make use of such opportunities.

  2. Special effort should be made to encourage the youngest child to conform to group life around the home so that he will develop this ability.

  3. Having fun at home, as much or more than away from home, seems to be related to the quality of cooperative living.

  4. Parents should examine their standards. Perhaps they have given their children the impression that their taboos are rigid and unyielding. This may consist of strong disapproval of things that are currently widely accepted. It may be better for parents to accept innovations than it is to lose the confidence of their children.

Advisor: Leland H. Stott

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