Many misconceptions about rape exist. This research used data from a random sample of students at a small, church-related liberal arts college to examine how religiosity relates to several common rape myths. Among the myths considered are whether a woman who is raped has only herself to blame if she is provocatively dressed, has a history of promiscuous behavior, or has been drinking alcoholic beverages. Findings suggest sex and religiosity interact to affect rape myth acceptance: Religiosity relates to rape myth acceptance only after controlling for sex. More religious men thought that women must accept some blame for their rapes, whereas religious women were less likely to blame the victim. Explanations for this finding include the sexual difference both in rape myth acceptance and in religious beliefs.

Rape is a major concern in American society. Estimates suggest that possibly one third of all women will be raped during their lifetimes. College campuses have particularly serious problems. Up to 25% of college women have reported that they have been a victim of either rape or attempted rape (Szymanski, Devlin, Chrisler, and Vyse 1993). Although rape frequently occurs, misconceptions about rape and its causes and consequences exist. For example, studies have suggested (see Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994 for a summary) a tendency to place at least partial blame on the rape victim, to view acquaintance rape less seriously than stranger rape, and to see rape as a sex crime rather than a violent crime. This article examines several misconceptions about rape to learn how differences in religiosity relate to acceptance of these beliefs.

Burt (1980) first used the term rape myths to describe misconceptions about rape. "Rape myths are attitudes and beliefs that are generally false but are widely and persistently held, and that serve to deny and justify male sexual aggression against women" (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994:134). They have developed as part of a broader cultural orientation of violence toward women; in other words, groups approve of sexual aggression and even sexual violence against women in certain situations. The assertion that women lie about having been raped illustrates one commonly held rape myth. A few well-publicized cases in which women have made false rape charges perpetuate this myth. Yet estimates have suggested that as many as 85 to 90% of rapes go unreported (National Victim Center 1992, cited in Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994:136). That rape happens only to certain kinds of women, such as those with bad reputations or those from marginal social groups, exemplifies a second rape myth. Again, the data fail to support this commonly held belief.

Studies have examined many factors related to acceptance of rape myths. The factors considered include demographic and background variables such as sex, race or ethnicity, age, education or occupation, knowing a rape survivor, and knowledge or awareness of rape. Although previous studies have not considered religiosity, Lonsway and Fitzgerald (1994), in their review of research on rape myths, suggested religiosity might influence the relationship between age and myth acceptance, and it might have a direct relationship with myth acceptance as well.

Religious beliefs influence views on many political and social issues: The more religious typically have more conservative views on issues (Renzetti and Curran 1995). For example, support for the Moral Majority and for Pat Robertson correlated with views on a social issues index that included issues such as school prayer, pornography, drug testing, abortion, and women's rights, although support did not extend to indexes of defense issues, economic issues, or racial issues. Those with conservative views on this social issues index had more support for the Moral Majority and Pat Robertson (Jelen and Wilcox 1992). Furthermore, religiosity helps to predict pro- or anti-feminist activities concerning an Equal Rights Amendment. More religious individuals have more traditional gender role attitudes (Mueller 1983:215). The latter finding has particular importance for predicting views on rape as attitudes toward women's roles have a strong and consistent association with rape myth acceptance: Individuals with traditional gender role attitudes have greater acceptance of rape myths (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994; Feild 1978).

Differences exist between conservative and progressive factions within most major religio-philosophical traditions. These factions have greater differences on social issues than those found between Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and secularists. Conservatives think a universal morality applies to any situation, whereas progressive factions maintain

that ideals are always and necessarily contingent.... it is the polarity of this axis that accounts for variation of opinion and position on a wide range of popular domestic disputes: abortion, homosexuality, gay rights and AIDS policy, funding for controversial art, "vulgar" music, sexual harassment, pornography, sex education, church-state issues, the "canon" and so on. (Hunter and Sargeant 1993:546)

Additionally, polarity on this axis should contribute to differing views on rape.

Religious conservatives, as well as those who view themselves as more religious in general, base their views on absolutist principles, and they tend to have minimal sympathy for opinions and behaviors that differ from those they find acceptable (Finley 1985 :550). Such conservatives attempt to persuade others to accept their moral standards and express a willingness to take punitive actions against those who oppose their standards (Wylie and Forest 1992). For example, they tend to oppose all form of life-taking, including abortion, suicide for the terminally ill, and euthanasia, although they do support capital punishment because these criminals deserve to die (Finley 1985). Could beliefs toward rape and rape victims have a similar basis? Sex outside marriage is always considered to be bad, and those who engage in it for whatever reason (even rape) to be morally wrong. Just as capital punishment happens only to those who deserve it, so religious conservatives might argue that rape happens only to those who deserve it because of their behaviors or ways of dress. This argument has similarities with the "just-world" hypothesis that Burt (1980:218) suggested as a basis of many rape myths. It also has similarities with findings that suggest attribution theory as a basis for explaining rape myths (Gray, Palileo, and Johnson 1993).(n1)

Rape myths do not develop because of objective evidence; rather, they develop within groups that provide a setting supportive of their development. Communities of believers frequently develop in-group mentalities (Finley 1985; Wylie and Forest 1992). They create views perceived as "right" that must have protection from outside attacks, even if the opposing views have factual basis. It might appear that religious individuals would find rape appalling because it involves sexual violence, but does religion provide a context conducive to the exploitation of women and intolerant of all who engage in deviant behaviors, even the victims of the behaviors?

Fraternities and sororities typify groups that provide circumstances supportive of rape myths, and they have a significant presence within the population studied in this research. Fraternities view women as subordinate to men, and they encourage sexual aggression and coercion. Furthermore, they demand strong group cohesion and support for these views; thus, fraternity members more readily accept rape myths (Martin and Hummer 1989:458; Kalof 1993). Sororities want women who appear desirable (including sexually desirable), and

there is an association between sorority membership and attitudes that support traditional myths about rape and sex, e.g., that women like to be forced to have sex, that nice girls don't get raped, and that most rape victims are promiscuous or have bad reputations. (Kalof 1993:774)

On the surface, sorority women would also find rape appalling in all situations as it constitutes a crime against women. However, rape myths have little basis in objective evidence, instead, groups, including religious groups, create and reinforce myths in certain contexts.

Hypothesis: Although previous studies have not directly addressed the relationship between rape myth acceptance and religiosity, previous studies have suggested that more religious individuals have greater acceptance of rape myths than less religious individuals. Furthermore, men and women have different views concerning rape and differing levels of acceptance of rape myths (Feild 1978; Giacopassi and Dull 1986; Szymanski et al. 1993; Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1995). Men have consistently reported a higher level of rape myth acceptance, necessitating the need to control for sex in the analysis.

This study examines the relationship between religiosity and rape myth acceptance. Data were collected during spring semester 1995 at Presbyterian College, a small liberal arts college in the Southeast related to the Presbyterian Church (USA). Most Presbyterian College students belong to Christian churches: about 33% Presbyterian, about 20% Baptist, about 16% Methodist, about 7% Episcopalian, and about 6% Catholic. Ten percent of the students expressed no religious preference. Although an obvious religious presence exists on campus, the college does not require attendance at chapel or other religious services.

Twenty-four students enrolled in a research methods course taught by the author conducted interviews with a computer-generated random sample of students. (The Dean of Administrative Services selected the sample, using as a sampling frame a list of all students then enrolled in the college, N = 1,076.) Interviewers completed 87% of attempted interviews, yielding 177 interviews for analysis. The major reasons for interviews not being completed were either difficulty in locating potential respondents or the respondents not having enough time. No one refused to participate because of the nature of the questions asked, nor did any one break off an interview before completion. Because the interview included several questions about sex-related issues and gender roles, interviewers and interviewees were matched on sex.

Previous studies have examined rape myths by using a variety of methods, including different rape myth scales and questions with little agreement as to the validity of each measure. (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994 provided a review of these measures.) This research faced limitations on the method used. As part of a course requirement, students designed a 150-item questionnaire that included the questions used in this study. Each student (24 total) contributed several items to the questionnaire, limiting the number of questions asked on any one topic. In addition, the course required students to conduct face-to-face interviews, restricting the topics addressed. For example, on a small campus, ethical considerations prevented student interviewers, no matter how professional, from asking other students about personal rape experiences. These concerns restricted the number and type of rape myths considered.

The first rape-related question asked, "Where would your opinion rest on the subject of sexual relations when the participants have been drinking alcoholic beverages and one of the participants does not want to have sex? Do you think that it is always wrong, almost always wrong, wrong only sometimes, or not wrong at all?" The second set of items asked, "Do you strongly agree, agree, disagree, or strongly disagree with the following statements? A woman who is dressed in a provocative manner has only herself to blame if she is raped; a woman who has a history of promiscuous behavior has only herself to blame if she is raped; and a woman who has been drinking alcoholic beverages has only herself to be blame if she is raped." The first question appeared in a different section of the questionnaire from the later ones and asked about a potential rape issue without actually calling it rape to learn if using the term produced different responses. The second set of questions more directly asked about views on rape myths, consistent with previous rape myths measures.

Earlier studies have frequently combined responses to rape myth questions to form a rape myth scale; however, little agreement exists about the items that such a scale should include, or about the validity of these scales (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994). Furthermore, rape myth acceptance varies by the type of myth examined (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1995; Johnson, Kuck, and Schander 1996), suggesting the need to examine each rape myth separately, not as part of a "global measure of rape myth acceptance" (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1995:710). For this research, a rape myth index was calculated, but using this index masked findings showing the importance of considering each myth separately. Thus, the index was rejected on both empirical and theoretical grounds.

The questionnaire also included questions about religious beliefs and practices.

The first religious beliefs items stated, "Of course religion plays different roles in the lives of different people," and then asked "Do you believe that religion is the most important thing in your life" (30%), "important but not most important" (53%), "only somewhat important" (11%), "of only minor importance" (5%), or "of no importance" (1%)? The analysis grouped together those responding only somewhat important, of only minor importance, and of no importance. Second, to the question "Would you classify yourself as a 'born again' Christian," 45% said yes, 53% said no, and 2% didn't know.

To measure behaviors, respondents were asked "About how often do you go to church or religious services?" and "How often do you pray?" Responses to the attendance question were coded into the following categories: about once a semester or less (38%), one or two times a month (38%), and at least nearly every week (23%). Responses to the prayer question were coded as follows: more than once a day (18%), once a day (35%), and less than once a day (48%). Although Presbyterian College has a religious affiliation, respondents gave a wide distribution of responses, suggesting substantial differences in religiosity among the students. For example, almost half of the respondents prayed less than once a day, and about 40% attended religious services about once a semester or less.

Finally, interviewers recorded the sex of each respondent. The sample consisted of 49% male respondents and 51% female respondents, closely approximating the percentage in the student body. In addition, about 95% of the respondents were White, also reflecting the student population's composition.

Before examining the relationship between religion and rape myth acceptance, this research attempts to provide a better understanding of rape myths. The analysis begins with a discussion of the frequency distributions of responses to the questions on rape myths. Next, the analysis uses cross-tabulations to detect the differences in rape myth acceptance for men and women. Finally, the analysis concludes with consideration of the relationship between religiosity and rape myth acceptance.

Table 1 presents the frequency distributions for responses to questions examining beliefs about rape. Almost all respondents (93%) reported that sex is always wrong when asked their opinions on sexual relations after drinking when one partner does not want to have sexual relations. Students in the sample thought that drinking did not provide justification for coercive sexual relations, but when asked whether a woman who had been drinking alcoholic beverages had only herself to blame if she is raped, they had differing opinions. On the latter question, only 55% strongly disagreed that she had only herself to blame. Most of the other respondents did disagree with blaming the woman for rape, but they had weaker disagreement than for the question that did not use the word rape.

A false consciousness exists about rape. Victims of sexual assault often do not want to use the term rape to describe what happened to them even "where a 'reasonable' observer would use the word rape to describe the event" (Johnson, Palileo, and Gray 1992:40-1). So too, perhaps, people think that using the term rape provides justification for the sexual behavior: Rape victims deserve what happens to them. The different response pattern for these two questions suggests a lack of understanding of the concept of rape and continued acceptance of rape myths. The label rape connotes an activity for which the victim has some responsibility, particularly after drinking, whereas nonvoluntary sexual relations after drinking are clearly wrong. A myth exists about the term rape, and respondents have less sympathy for a behavior labeled rape because the victim has to take some responsibility for a rape.

For the other two questions asking specifically about rape, 63% strongly disagreed that the woman had only herself to blame if she was raped when dressed in a provocative manner, and 55% strongly disagreed that the woman had only herself to blame if she had a history of promiscuous behavior and was raped. As with too much drinking, provocative dress or promiscuous behavior creates some doubt about whether a woman has herself to blame for her rape, again suggesting a failure to understand the definition of rape.

For all three questions asking directly about rape, almost 95% of respondents either disagreed or strongly disagreed with blaming the woman. The wording of the questions (e.g., "a woman dressed in a provocative manner has only herself to blame") may make agreement difficult for anyone who understands the question as agreement attributes no blame to the rapist and total blame to the victim. Because so few agreed or strongly agreed, further analysis considers only differences between those who strongly disagree and those who simply disagree.

Consistent with previous studies (e.g., Gilmartin-Zena 1988; Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1994), men and women in this study had significantly different levels of agreement with rape myths--differences more consistent than found for the religion variables. Table 2 presents the differences by sex. (Because of the almost total agreement on the question about sex after drinking, no further analysis was done on this question.) About 25% more women strongly disagreed with blaming the woman for rape. Women had weaker disagreement with the question about rape after drinking (still, 70% strongly disagreed), and men had weaker disagreement with the question about rape if the woman had a history of promiscuous behavior (42% strongly disagreed).(n2) Women had less acceptance of rape myths than men and more sympathy for rape victims.

Without controls for sex, no religiosity measure has a significant relationship with rape myth acceptance.(n3) After controlling for sex, however, frequency of prayer and religious importance had associations in certain cases. (Table 3 presents the statistically significant results.) First, for men, religious importance had a significant relationship with views about the myth concerning provocative dress. Men for whom religion had little importance were more likely to strongly disagree that a woman who is dressed provocatively must accept blame for her rape (74% rejected the rape myth). Conversely, if religion had greater importance to a man, then he was more likely to blame the woman for her rape, as hypothesized. For women, only amount of prayer had a significant relationship with any rape myth; specifically, amount of prayer was associated with myths concerning provocative dress and promiscuous behavior. Women who prayed more than once a day or who prayed daily did not accept these rape myths as strongly as women who prayed less frequently. Greater religiosity for women suggests less acceptance of rape myths, contrary to the hypothesis and to the findings for men.

Amount of prayer and self-reported importance of religion measured two different aspects of religiosity. Prayer reflects a religious behavior, and importance reflects religious belief patterns. Perhaps the different religiosity measures found significant for each sex account for the different relationships noted for men and women between rape myth acceptance and religiosity. Wylie and Forest (1992) did find different attitudinal responses for different religious measures. Although not statistically significant for women, women for whom religion had more importance tended to have more sympathy for rape victims (see Table 4 for these nonsignificant results). Consistent with the association for prayer, women who viewed religion as more important were less accepting of rape myths. Similarly for men, the differences between agreement categories for differing levels of prayer lacked statistical significance, but men who prayed more tended to have less disagreement with rape myths (i.e., less sympathy for victims) than men who prayed less. Thus, it appears that the relationship between religiosity and rape myth acceptance differs for men and women, as does the nature of religiosity important for each sex. For women, the personal behavior of prayer seems most important, whereas for men religious importance plays a greater role.

No significant difference emerged between those who considered themselves born again and those who did not. This question provided the most direct measure of religious conservatism but did not relate to rape myth acceptance. Church attendance, a measure of religious behavior, also had no relationship to agreement with rape myths. Some respondents noted differing attendance patterns at home and at school, leading to questions about the reliability of attendance as a measure of religiosity for these students and about personal commitment to attend religious services.

The findings demonstrate the existence of a relationship between religiosity and rape myth acceptance, although this relationship only becomes significant when controlling for sex. Sex and religiosity interact to affect rape myth acceptance. Men who considered religion as very important placed more blame on rape victims than men for whom religion had less importance. Yet increased religiosity for women as measured by amount of prayer, correlated with decreased rape myth acceptance. Religious women had a lower likelihood of blaming a rape victim. Women, in general, tend to be more religious than men and to have different religious practices, such as greater church attendance (Renzetti and Curran 1995). However, in this study men and women did not have any significant differences on the measures of religious beliefs and practices. For men, however, religious beliefs related to rape myth acceptance, whereas women's religious behaviors affected their rape myths acceptance.

More religious women respondents tended to distinguish between the deviant act and the victim. For women, rape myths help in denying personal vulnerability (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1995) and serve as a way of deflecting blame from a woman if she is raped (Giacopassi and Dull 1986). For women, prayer too might serve as a way of decreasing vulnerability and of deflecting responsibility for bad things that might happen to them. Women who pray frequently put their lives in the hands of God and might not have as much concern about being raped as they have divine protection. Thus, women who pray more have less need to accept rape myths than women who rely less on prayer.

For men, the relationship between religiosity and rape myth acceptance supported the hypothesis: Men who said that religion had great importance were more likely to blame rape victims. The "need for control" attribution model suggests that individuals who accept rape myths have little sympathy for victims because they have done something wrong. Men, in general, have views toward rape myths consistent with this model (Gray et al. 1993). Self-identified religious men, too, have views consistent with this model. Religious men have a more absolutist view about rape, as they have about other social issues (Finley 1985; Wylie and Forest 1992). Highly religious men make fewer distinctions in evaluating behaviors based on situations, rather, they control by negatively evaluating all who participate in behaviors of which they do not approve. They may not be concerned with justifying their own behavior or potential behavior, but they do see rape as wrong; anyone participating has done something wrong. Thus, all participants have guilt, and the victim must accept some blame. Religious men attribute partial blame to the victim to maintain a sense of control of the situation and of their own lives.

Greeley (1989) found that people have different images of God, varying from a more masculine image of God as father and judge to a more feminine image of God as mother who emphasizes love. These religious images have stronger relationships to views on social and political issues than traditional religious indicators such as denomination or church attendance. Individuals with more feminine views of God have more liberal views on social issues such as equal rights for women, capital punishment, and civil rights. Although this study does not examine religious images, these images might play a role in helping to explain the gender-religiosity interaction found. On the one hand, more religious women might have a more feminine image of God, helping to explain their lack of support for rape myths. On the other hand, men for whom religion has importance may have more (traditional) masculine views of God, contributing to their greater acceptance of rape myths. The role of religious imagination needs further consideration.(n4) It may help to account for the fact that a measure of religious beliefs was important for men and a measure of religious practices was important for women.

The findings continue to show differences in rape myth acceptance between men and women independent of religion. Each sex has significantly different beliefs about whom to blame for rape, with women being less likely to blame the victim. Rape myths likely function differently for each sex. The relative levels of acceptance for men and women also varied by the particular myth examined suggesting the need to examine rape myths individually, not as part of a rape myth scale. Men disagreed least with (accepted most) the myth about rape of women with a history of promiscuous behavior. Women offered weaker disagreement to the myth about blaming the woman for rape after drinking. For men, rape myths serve as a way of justifying violence against women, whereas for women, myths help to deny personal vulnerability (Lonsway and Fitzgerald 1995) and to protect self-esteem (Gray et al. 1993). Myths provide a way of deflecting blame from one's own group toward another group; thus, "individuals are more likely to reject those myths that reflect negatively on themselves" (Giacopassi and Dull 1986:68). For example, men may think that women with a history of promiscuous behavior have more responsibility for their rapes, and women may feel more vulnerable after drinking. Similarly, Gray and her colleagues (1993) found consistency between women's rape myth acceptance and a defensive attribution model. "This attribution is motivated by the need of the observer to protect his or her self-esteem and to avoid self-blame if he or she should be similarly victimized in the future" (Gray et al. 1993:379). Research needs to continue to examine the types of myths differentially accepted by each sex and the ways that each sex uses myths to justify its own position.

This study has examined a limited number of rape myths to find out how acceptance of them relates to religiosity. Certainly other rape myths exist and need consideration, other myths might more directly relate to religiosity. This study has, however, demonstrated the usefulness of studying religion. Although the sample was limited mainly to Christian students at a church-related college, the results might apply to other religious individuals as well. The religious measures significantly related to rape myth acceptance concerned the self-described importance of religion and the amount of prayer, two measures of religiosity common to many faiths. In fact, the most direct measure of religious beliefs used, whether respondents were born again, did not have a significant relationship with rape myth acceptance.

Finally, these results offer some encouragement about rape myth acceptance. Almost everyone surveyed at least disagreed with the three rape myths examined. College students, even at a fairly conservative, church-related college in the South, are beginning to question blaming women for rape.

An earlier version of this article was presented at the 1996 Annual Meeting of the Southern Sociological Society. I wish to acknowledge the contributions of the 24 students enrolled in Sociology 424, Spring 1995, who collected the data on which this article is based. I also want to thank Barbara Johnson for her assistance with this research.

Address correspondence to Robert H. Freymeyer, Department of Sociology, Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina 29325, USA.

(n1) An anonymous reviewer suggested the importance of the role of attribution theory in rape myth acceptance.

(n2) Significant differences also existed between men and women on three other questions related to rape. Woman had more fear of being raped (47% of women were very or somewhat afraid versus 34% of men), thought that more rape programs are needed on campus (27% of women strongly agreed vs. 11% of men), and were less likely to think that rape receives too much attention in the media (24% of women strongly disagreed that it receives too much attention vs. 13% of men).

(n3) The research included further multivariate regression analysis, but because it added little to the understanding of the relationships and because the research used ordinal measures of religion and rape myth acceptance, this article includes only cross-tabulation results.

(n4) An anonymous reviewer also suggested the importance of Greeley's work.

                                     n            %

Where would your opinion rest on the subject of sexual relations
when the participants have been drinking alcoholic beverages and
one of the participants does not want to have sex?

Always wrong                        164           93
Almost always wrong                   6            3
Wrong only sometimes                  5            3
Not wrong at all                      2            1

A woman who is dressed in a provocative manner has only herself
to blame if she is raped.

Strongly agree                        1            1
Agree                                 4            2
Disagree                             61           35
Strongly disagree                   111           63

A woman who has a history of promiscuous behavior has only
herself to blame if she is raped.

Strongly agree                        1            1
Agree                                 8            5
Disagree                             70           40
Strongly disagree                    98           55

A woman who has been drinking alcoholic beverages has only
herself to blame if she is raped.

Strongly agree                        0            0
Agree                                 6            3
Disagree                             73           41
Strongly disagree                    98           55

Myth                                   Male      Female

Dressed in provocative manner
 Chi[sup 2] = 10.6
Disagree (%)                            48         24
Strongly disagree (%)                   52         76
n                                       84         88

History of promiscuous behavior,
 Chi[sup 2] = 18.8
Disagree (%)                            59         26
Strongly disagree (%)                   42         74
n                                       82         86

After drinking alcohol,
 Chi[sup 2] = 11.0
Disagree (%)                            55         30
Strongly disagree (%)                   45         70
n                                       85         86

Note. All differences significant, p < .05.

Legend for Table:

A - Most important
B - Important
C - Not important
D - More than daily
E - Daily
F - Less than daily

                                       Importance of religion

                                       A         B         C

Men

Dressed in provocative manner,
Chi[sup 2] = 7.7
Disagree (%)                           68        45        26
Strongly disagree (%)                  32        55        74
n                                      25        55        19

                                         Frequency of prayer

                                       D         E         F

Women

Dressed in provocative manner,
Chi[sup 2] = 7.9
Disagree (%)                           19        11        39
Strongly disagree (%)                  81        89        61
n                                      16        36        36

History of promiscuous behavior,
Chi[sup 2] = 7.3
Disagree (%)                           12        17        41
Strongly disagree (%)                  88        83        59
n                                      16        36        34

Note. All differences significant, p < .05.

Legend for Table:

A - Most important
B - Important
C - Not important
D - More than daily
E - Daily
F - Less than daily

                                       Importance of religion

                                       A         B         C

Women

Dressed in provocative manner,
Chi[sup 2] = .173
Disagree (%)                           15        26        33
Strongly disagree (%)                  85        74        67
n                                      26        50        12

                                         Frequency of prayer

                                       D         E         F

Men

Dressed in provocative manner,
Chi[sup 2] = 2.8
Disagree (%)                           64        52        40
Strongly disagree (%)                  36        48        60
n                                      14        25        45

History of promiscuous behavior,
Chi[sup 2] = 1.2
Disagree (%)                           71        58        54
Strongly disagree (%)                  29        42        46
n                                      14        24        44

Note. All differences significant, p < .05.

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Received 14 June 1996; accepted 8 November 1996.

~~~~~~~~

By ROBERT H. FREYMEYER, Department of Sociology, Presbyterian College, Clinton, South Carolina, USA