Preliminary Note on a Search for Correlates of Attitudes toward Coeducation from Female College Students

Abstract

Many single-sex colleges have considered becoming coeducational in recent years, yet little research has been conducted on correlates of srudent preference. This note reports two studies briefly. Female Ss ( n = 172) at Wheaton College (Mass.) responded anonymously to a questionnaire. Their desire for the college to become coeducational was not related to the kind of college attended by S's siblings or parents, parental pressure over S's choice, S's attitudes toward sororities, college class, interest in graduate school, whether S went to a coed secondary school, influence of school teachers/counselors on S's choice, whether S had ever attended coeducational college courses, whether S was engaged or dating steadily, whether S's parents were permissive, whether S had applied to coeducational colleges, whether such a college was S's first choice, or in their evaluation of the effect of high-school experiences on their attitudes toward males.' Ss who transferred were more opposed to Wheaton becoming coeducational. Both those in favor of coeducation and those opposed felt that single-sex colleges were more prestigious. However, a majority (80% ) of those opposed to coeducation wanted some arrangement with male colleges such as class exchanges or coordination. At Wellesley College, 108 female Ss completed a different questionnaire, anonymously. Those in favor of coeducation did not differ from those opposed in sibling position, sex of siblings, mother's college experience, S's secondary school type, current dating behavior, preferences for lectures versus seminars and structured versus unstructured assignments, plans to live at home during vacations, or in Neuroticism and Extraversion on the Maudsley Personality Inventory, short-form (Jensen, 1958) . Ss in favor of coeducation desired more to live off campus and obtained higher dominance feeling scores (Maslow, 1940) : median scores +25 and -13%; x 2 = 7.28, df = 1, 9 < 0.05. It appears that few girls in these studies wished to be at an isolated girls' college. Rather some form of coeducation, exchange, or merger was the desire of the majority. The desire for coeducation appeared to be unrelated to personal history variables. The lower dominance feeling scores of girls opposed to coeducation suggests counseling might improve their self-images and possibly might be desirable should the colleges become coeducational.