Generational Attribution in Turkish and American Youth

One hundred seventy-four Turkish and 171 American adolescents rated their own and their father's approval of 35 statements describing traditional or individualistic actions. The statements were weighted to yield scores on seven family-related issues, and the latter scores were factor analyzed. Factor scores were submitted to analysis of variance to determine the effects of culture, sex, and generational attribution (self-versus father-ratings). Predictions of greater approval of individualistic actions for American versus Turkish respondents, self-versus father-ratings, and males versus females were all supported with the "Independence-in-Choice" factor (p <.01). On the "Traditional-Respect" factor, the mean for American self-ratings alone approved of independent actions, different from all other means (p <.01). The possibility of sequential stages of change in different attitude domains was discussed.