Factor Structure Of Attitudes Research Articles

On the Varieties of Diversity: Ideological Variations in Attitudes Toward, and Understandings of Diversity.

Three studies explore the possibility that attitudes toward "diversity" are multidimensional rather than unidimensional and that ideological differences in diversity attitudes vary as a function of diversity subtype. Study 1 (n = 1,001) revealed that the factor structure of attitudes toward 23 diverse community features was bidimensional. Factors involving demographic and viewpoint diversity emerged. Conservatives reported more positive attitudes toward viewpoint diversity, and liberals more positive attitudes toward demographic diversity. Study 2 (n = 1,012) replicated Study 1 findings, and extended Study 1 results by showing attitudes toward the general concept of diversity predicted attitudes toward demographic diversity but not viewpoint diversity. In Study 3, 386 participants rated how relevant a set of features was to their prototypical understanding of diversity. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) revealed people discriminate between viewpoint, demographic, and consumer diversity. Conservatives perceived viewpoint features as more relevant to "diversity," whereas liberals perceived demographic features as more relevant.

Attitudes of employees toward offenders sentenced to community service

Whether alternative penalties served by offenders in the community will be successful can also largely depend on the general attitudes in the workplace where the offender will be serving his penalty. This study, conducted in Belgrade, Serbia, was aimed to determine the inclination and factor structure of attitudes towards offenders and ex-offenders, and their correlation with the respondents' age and education. The sample consisted of men from the general population (N=78), employed in companies where offenders serve community sentence. The study also considers the association between attitudes and the age and education of the respondents. The Scale for Attitudes toward Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners was used in the study. Research results showed that the respondents in general had positive attitude toward offenders. On the Scale of Attitudes, a statement 'I would socialize with a person who is on parole from prison' had the highest frequency, with which 44.90% of respondents 'mostly agree' (MOD=4). With most negatively formulated statements, the frequency of statements 'I strongly agree' is low, ranging from 7,70% to 15.60%. Factor analysis of the attitude scale indicated three respectable factors which were named: Rejection, Trust, and Perception of Penalty. The correlation between the demographic variables of age and education, and the expressed attitudes shows there was no significant correlation (p=0.93; p=0.86). The findings of the study have an important impact on practical psychosocial issues, such as that of preparing the community to accept offenders serving alternative punishments, as well as theoretical questions regarding the understanding of the structure, cause, origin, function, and form of attitudes toward offenders.

Factor Structure of the Multidimensional Orientation Toward Dying and Death Inventory Among Hong Kong College Students: A Preliminary Study

This study examines the factor structures of the Chinese version of the Multidimensional Orientation Toward Dying and Death Inventory (MODDI-F/chin), originally established in German language, in a sample of Hong Kong college students (n = 256). Both confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis were performed to examine the factor structures of the MODDI-F/chin. The results showed that, identical to the German version, the MODDI-F/chin consisted of a 5-factor Fear domain and a 3-factor Acceptance domain. The fear of another person's dying was the weakest of the four factors in the Hong Kong sample but represented the first and strongest factor in the German sample of the original study. Although preliminary and not representative of mainland China, our results show that the factor structure of attitudes toward dying and death that had been established empirically with German people can be replicated with Chinese students of Hong Kong.

Perceptions of safety climate at different employment levels

The notion of safety climate has become central to contemporary theories of occupational health and safety management. Studies of safety climate, focusing on attitudes and perceptions, have suggested that there are variations in both the architecture and intensity of employee attitudes to safety depending on employment level. This paper explores the nature of such differences. The study described here involved the comparison of data, gathered using a self-administered survey instrument, on employee attitudes to safety across three levels (managers, supervisors and general employees). A total of 967 general employees, 123 first-line supervisors and 97 managers from two large manufacturing organizations took part in the study. The data were compared in three ways. First, the factor structure of attitudes in each group was examined, then possible differences between factor scores were investigated and finally the structural relationships between climate factors were compared across groups. Multisample confirmatory facor analysis showed that the factor structures were verv simila across the groups. In terms of the relationships between the factors, however, the architectures illustrated quite different structures This, taken with the range of differences in the intensity of attitudes and perceptions, suggested that, while managers, supervisors and general employees shared the same definition of saferv factors, their perceptions of these factors and how they inter-related proved to be quite different. Implications of the results are discussed in terms of promoting a positive culture for safety.