Religious and Moral Attitude Trends Among College Students, 1948-84

Abstract

Identical surveys were done with Williams College men undergraduates at five times spanning 1948 through 1984. From 1948 to 1967 there was a trend toward liberalism and individualism in religious attitudes, but this was reversed after 1974, when attitudes turned conservative. Attitudes on several moral topics changed greatly between 1974 and 1984, especially on marijuana use and the moral obligation of couples to reduce family size; the changes are in the conservative direction. There is a definite return of the fifties among college students, both in the increased conservatism in attitudes and also in the heightened privatism. College students are the most researched group in the population. This is partly because they are the future leaders of the nation, and hence their attitudes are important to know. It is also because they are the population group most sensitive to shifts in the cultural climate. All research shows that college students change more in values from half-decade to halfdecade than do older adults (Hoge 1974). This greater sensitivity and volatility of students seems to result from both their greater independence from institutional commitments and their greater proximity to intellectual life. Yankelovich (1981) argues, furthermore, that college students are a kind of forerunner group for cultural innovation generally. Students and young alumni from high-prestige colleges living on the east and west coasts are commonly the pacesetters of cultural change. Trend studies have been done on college student religion, spanning about 60 years (Hoge 1974). They have found a fall-rise-fall-rise pattern in traditional religious commitment, with a high level in the middle 1920s (the earliest reliable measures), then a decline to the middle 1930s, then a rise beginning at the end of the 1930s and peaking in about 1952-55, then Financial support for this research came from the Spencer Foundation and the Center for the Study of Youth Development, Catholic University. Address correspondence to Philip K. Hastings, Department of Psychology, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267. ? 1986 The Universitv of North Carolina Press