Date of Award

6-2003

Document Type

Paper

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Department

Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology

First Advisor

Clark Campbell

Second Advisor

Rodger Bufford

Third Advisor

Kathleen A. Gathercoal

Abstract

This study investigated factors that contribute to the development of social responsibility. A sample of approximately 104 men and women attending a private liberal arts university participated in the study. Each participant completed the Global Social Responsibility Inventory (GSRI; Starrett, 1996), the Parental Authority Questionnaire (PAQ; Buri, 1991), and an accompanying demographic questionnaire that included measures of parental modeling of social responsibility, family adaptability, and family cohesion. It was hypothesized that the participants who reported having authoritative parents as children would be more socially responsible than those who reported having authoritarian or permissive parents as children. Secondly, in a stepwise regression of parenting style on social responsibility, only the authoritative style was expected to predict social responsibility. It was also hypothesized that parenting style would be a stronger predictor of social responsibility than parental modeling of social responsibility. Lastly, it was hypothesized that authoritarian parenting would positively predict social conservatism on the GSRI. Results showed authoritarian parenting, paternal social responsibility, and maternal social responsibility to be the only factors contributing to the social responsibility of participants. There were mixed results regarding whether parental modeling or parenting style was more important to the formation of social responsibility. Participants with authoritarian parents had low scores of social conservatism. Post-hoc analyses indicted relationships between family adaptability and cohesion and parenting styles. These results do not support the findings of past research and call into question the validity of the GRSI.

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