Student Participation in Civil Rights Protest: A Multivariate Analysis

Abstract

Abstract The relative strength of several social background factors, personality attributes, and perceptions of the social environment were tested in predicting self-reported participation in protest activity by college students. The data were obtained from a large random sample of students at Washington State University during the winter of 1969–70. Findings indicate that 20 percent of the sample participated in protest activities, a figure somewhat higher than those reported by surveys taken of universities across the country. Six variables entered the multiple regression equation, accounting for 17 percent of the variance in protest behavior. The six variables, in order of strength of contribution, were perceived injustice in state institutions, frustration in school roles, self-esteem, size of parental community, perception of rate of social change in American society, and perception of local community injustice.