THE RELATICINSIIIP 0F QLGTHINB T0 HEB AGGEP'I‘ANCE AND W PERSONAL APPEARANCE I)? ADOLESCENTS THESIS FIJI? THE DEGREE OF M. A. MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY MARY JANE YOUNG I 9 5 7 ........ II III III I I,” III” III I I G 3 . LIBRARy Michigan Stat: . University 0" )VERNIGH'I I . MICHIGAN STATE mun/£23m LIBRARIES INTERLIBHARY LOANS EAST LANSING, MICHIGAN 48823 ABSTRACT THE RELATIONSHIP OF CLOTHING TO PEER ACCEPTANCE AND TO PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF ADOLESCENTS by Mary Jane Young The purpose of the research was to investigate relationships among peer acceptance, eight specific aspects of cldthing and personal appearance in a group of adolescents. This study was a portion of a larger project investigating the relationship of clothing to the self-concept of adolescents. The uniqueness of the larger study was the refinement of a clothing instrument which measured various aspects of clothing atti- tudes and behaviors. The eight aspects formulated included: an aesthetic concern for clothing, comfort in clothing, the use of clothing to gain social approval, management of clothing, psychologi- cal dependence on clothing, interest and experimentation with clothing, modesty in relation to clothing, and the use of clothing to seek special attention. Eleven statements for each aspect of clothing were rated on a scale from one to five. Each subject had eight clothing scores which were analyzed separately relative to the other variables of peer acceptance and personal appearance. Subjects for the study were 270 females and 251 males in grades ten, eleven and twelve in the central high school of a small midwestern city. A questionnaire consisting of the clothing measure and background data was administered in two sessions one week apart. Mary Jane Young On both occasions when the questionnaire was being completed, ratings\of the personal appearance of the subjects were;made on the criteria of appropriateness, harmony, becomingness, neatness, hair and make-up (for girls only). Peer acceptance was determined from sociometric questions given to the entire school population asking choices for leadership, friendship, popularity and work companions. The number of times each subject's name was mentioned by others was recorded and this number became the raw peer acceptance score. The Pearson r product-moment correlation coefficient was the major statistical method employed to determine the relationships between the variables. Partial correlations were also computed to control the effects of grade and social class. The data was processed separately for males and females. One of the major findings was that peer acceptance was significantly related to personal appearance for the males. This relationship was not significant for the females, but the level of probability approached significance. The significant relationships between peer acceptance and the various aspects of clothing included: peer acceptance was related to aesthetic concern for clothing forthe females; and peer acceptance was related to interest in clothing for females, but with the influence of social class removed significance was lost indicating that social class was a factor in this relationship.’ The findings revealed the following significant relationships between personal appearance and the aspects of clothing: personal Mary Jane Young appearance was related for'both males and females to aesthetic concern for clothing; personal appearance was related to the use of clothing‘ for special attention by females; personal appearance was related to modesty for males and there was a trend in this direction for females; and, personal appearance was related for females to grade. All other relationships between peer acceptance, personal appearance, the eight aspects of clothing, social class and grade were. not significant. The general hypotheses postulated that clothing would be related to peer acceptance and personal appearance. Since some aspects of clothing were related to peer acceptance and personal appearance, the general hypotheses were accepted although not all of the sub-hypotheses were confirmed. THE RELATIONSHIP or CLOTHING TO PEER ACCEPTANCE AND TO PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF ADOLESCENTS by Mary Jane Young A THESIS ._Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Textiles, Clothing and Related Arts 1967 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The writer would like to acknowledge her indebtedness and appreciation to her sdvisor, Dr. Anna Mary Creekmore for her guidance and invaluable assistance in directing this thesis and the larger project; to the other researchers on this project, Sue Hundley, Carolyn Andree, and Mary Klaasen for their cooperation and enthusi- asm; to Dr. Frances Magrabi for her assistance in programming; to the members of her committee, Dr. Mary Gephart, Dr. Elinor Nugent, and Dr. Gertrude Nygren.for their helpful suggestions and criticisms; to the superintendent, principal and particularly the vice-principal , and students of the research site for their assistance and partici- pation; to the Michigan State University Experiment Station which furnished the funds to conduct the project; but especially to her husband, Robert H. Young, whose patience and encouragement made this study a reality. *Hmmirk ii TABLE OF CONTENTS AmmmmsOOOOOO.OOOOVO'OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO LIST OF Chapter I; II. III. TABLES...00.......10....OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...O mTROD‘JCTIWOOOOOOOOOO000......0000.......0 REVIm 0F LITERATUREOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.0.0...O Peer Acceptance......................... CIOthingOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.0 Personal Appearance..................... STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM..9................ Statement of the Problem................ Definition of TermS..................... Hypotheses.................s.....o...... Assumptions..............,.............. Limitations............................. “THODOLmYOOOOOOOOOOO0.0000CCOOOOOCOOOOOO. Description of Research Site............. Selection of Subjects................... Development and Selection of Measures... Collection of Data...................... Method of Analysis...................... FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONOOOO00.00.000.000... Biographical Data....................... Peer Acceptance......................... Personal Appearances.OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 010th1n80000000.000...OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Relationship between Peer Acceptance and Personal Appearance.,............. iii Page ii 15 20 29 29 31 32 33 34 34 35 36 43 44 46 46 50 56 59 62 Chapter Relationship between Peer Acceptance and Clothing Relationship between Personal Appearance and Clothing VI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Recommendations BIBLIOGRAPHY APPENDIX A APPENDIX B iv Page 64 66 69 76 78 84 92 10. 11. LIST OF TABLES Distribution of males and females according to Boeial ClasleOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOQOOOOOOOOOOOO Distribution of males and females according to the main wage earner's education.................. Distribution of males and females according to peer acceptance categories........................ Simple correlations between peer acceptance and grade, and peer acceptance and social class for males and females....................... Distribution of males and females in each grade according to peer acceptance categories..... Distribution of males and females in each social class according to peer acceptance categor188.....................oooo.....oo........ Distribution of males and females by honor roll according to peer acceptance categories...... A comparison of the personal appearance mean rating for males and females...................... Simple correlations between personal appear- ance and grade, and personal appearance and social class for males and females................ Mean score, range and standard deviation for each aspect of clothing for males and females..... Simple correlations between the clothing aspects and grade and social class for males and females.. Page 48 49 51 52 53 55 S6 57 58 60 61 Table 1.2» 13. 14. Page Simple and partial correlations between peer acceptance and personal appearance for males and females.00......OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOCC0.00...... 63 Simple and partial correlations between peer acceptance and each aspect of clothing for males and females..........o.......o..o....o...... 65 Simple and partial correlations between personal appearance and each aspect of clothing for males and females.................... 67 vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION An adolescent's relationship to his peers is exceedingly important, and his apparent preoccupation seems to be in achieving and maintaining a socially accepted pattern of behavior. It has been said that "being 'popular' with his peers is one of the strongest desires of the typical adolescent."1 There is a wide range of acceptability from the most accepted and highly regarded individual to the very unpopular and even disapproved person. Many studies, such as Coleman's,2 Bjorngaard's,3 and Toomire's,4 have shown that when acceptance is important to the adolescent, clothing and appearance are also significant. Externals, such as clothing, are often overrated in describing the characteristics of the popular 1Elizabeth B. Hurlock, Developmental Psycholggy (2nd ed. rev.; New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1959), p. 292. 2James S. Coleman, The Adolescent Society (New York: The Free Press of Glenco, 1961), pp. 36-37. 3Arlene Louise Bjorngaard, "The Relationship of Socialnélass and Social Acceptance to Clothing and Appearance of a Selected Group of Ninth Grade Girls" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1962), p. 146. 4Phyllis A. Toomire, "Social Acceptance and Its‘Relationship to Appearance and Selection of Clothing by Teen-age Girls" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Southern Illinois University, 1964). - *.-_..-'_—__ -2- adolescents.1’2 The cause.of acceptance is easily attributed to clothing and appearanCe by adolescents because they are highly visible. A significant correlation has been found by some researchers between a high peer acceptance score and a high personal appearance rating for girls as rated by adult observers,3’4 though Kittles found no relation- ship or a slightly negative one between the same variables.5 Cannon, 3; 1., in discussing the possibility of a causal relationship state, "Whether a good self-assurance with resulting social acceptance, or whether a strong social interest carries with it a desire to adopt a standard of dress and grooming which meets group approval, we cannot say."6 The drive for popularity and acceptance among adolescents may lead to conformity in many aspects of behavior. The informal organi- 1Madelyn Claire Williams, "Opinions on Clothing, Appearance and Social Acceptance as Factors in Group Cohesion of Ninth Grade Girls" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1963), p. 127. 2Suzanne H. Hendricks, "Opinions on Clothing and Appearance as Related to Group and Non-Group Membership of Twelfth Grade Girls" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1965), p. 112. 3Joan R. Bunderson, "Dress and Appearance of High School Girls in Relation to Academic Achievement, School Activity, Peer Acceptance and Disciplinary Problems" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Utah State University, 1965), p. 35. 4Kenneth L. Cannon, Ruth Staples and Irene Carlson, "Personal Appearance as A Factor in Social Acceptance," Journal of Home Economics, XLIV (October, 1952), pp. 710-713. 5Emma Louise Kittles, "Experimental Use of Technique for Determining the Influence of Clothing upon Social Acceptance of Junior High School Girls" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Ohio State University, 1956), p. 48. 6Cannon, Staples, and Carlson, op. cit., p. 713. -3- zation of friendships and cliques has been shown to control a wide variety of behaviors, including clothing, in the social system of the high school.1 Dillon concluded that the highly accepted individual showed greater conformity to the modal pattern of dress than those who had low social acceptability.2 Evans reported opposing results that subjects who conformed the mostwere the least popular students.3 It should be noted that conformity was measured in different ways in these studies. 'Although the relationship between clothing in general and peer acceptance has been studied, the reports are not unanimous in their findings nor have particular clothing aspects been associated with degrees of peer acceptance. Also relatively little research has been conducted on the clothing behavior of boys. This study can contribute to the knowledge in the clothing area by exploring further the relationships between peer acceptance, clothing aspects and personal appearance for both sexes of high school students. 1Wayne C. Gordon, The Social System of the High School (Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1957), p. 99. 2Mary Louise Dillon, "The Modal Pattern of Dress and Its Relationship to Peer Acceptance among Eighth Grade Boys" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1963). 3Evelyn Evans, "Motivations Underlying Clothing Selection and Wearing," Journal of Home Economics, LVI (December, 1964), pp. 739-743. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF LITERATURE Only a cursory examination of magazine articles and books by popular authors is needed in order to be impressed with the apparent preoccupation of American society in establishing a socially accepted mode of behavior. Clothing is one behavioral manifestation of acceptability of special concern to the typical adolescent. A discus- sion of the literature will be undertaken to expand the concepts of peer acceptance and clothing, and to establish the interrelationship between the two. Peer Acceptance An essential dimension of the adolescent culture is related to the ways in which teenagers value one another, and the criteria which they employ in formulating patterns of acceptance or rejection of one another. This dimension of peer acceptance appears in the literature under a variety of different nomenclatures. Sometimes the dimension was equated with popularity as by Turner,1 Bonney,2 and Dillon.3 1R. H. Turner, "Preoccupation with Competitiveness and Social Acceptance among American and English College Students," Sociometr , XXIII (1960), p. 307. 2Merle E. Bonney, "Popular and Unpopular Children: A Sociometric Study," Sociometry Monographs, No. 9 (New York: Beacon House, 1947), p. 84. 3Dillon, 22. cit. -5- This author feels that a definition of peer acceptance in terms of popularity only.is a limiting one because acceptance covers more scope than popularity. Adjustment is another concept that has been utilized in studies by Semler1 and Tindallz. Though peer acceptance is an .aspect of adjustment, adjustment is a more collective word and includes both social and personal adjustment. Jersild stated that although an adolescent who is highly accepted can be considered a social success, it should not be assumed that a good social adjustment means a good personal adjustment.3 Lindzey and Borgatta also warned about making this assumption.4 Prestige and peer acceptance are not always differ- entiated as in such studies by Ryon and Davie5 and Anastasi and Miller.6 Keisler tested the hypothesis that there is a difference between social acceptance and prestige. His findings showed that social acceptance was closely associated with popularity with one's peers, while prestige 1Ira Semler, "Relationships among Several Measures of Pupil Adjustment," Journal of Educational Psychology, L1 (1960), pp. 60-64. 2R. Tindall, "Relationships among Indices of Social Adjustment," Journal of Educational and Psycholggical Measurements, XV (Summer 1955), pp. 152-162. 3Arthur T. Jersild, The Psychology_of Adolescents (2nd ed. rev.; New York: The Macmillan Co., 1963), p. 262. 4Gardner Lindsey and E. F. Borgatta, "Sociometric Measurement," Handbook of Social Psychology, ed. Gardner Lindzey (Cambridge, Mass.: Addison Wesley Publishing Co., 1954), p. 427. 5F. R. Ryon and J. S. Davie, "Social Acceptance, Academic Achievement and Aptitudes among High School Students," Journal of Educational Research, LII (1958), pp. 101-106. 6Anne Anastasi and Shirley Miller, "Adolescent Prestige Factors in Relation to Scholastic and Socio-economic Variables," Journal of Social Psychology, XXIX (February 1949), pp. 43-50. -6- was linked with scholastic success and other similar variables.1 However, this distinction seems to be rather arbitrary and not too useful as a construct. Peer acceptance is used interchangeably with the term social acceptance. Social acceptance, by definition of the words in the term alone, denotes "acceptance by people in general," and so is a more inclusive term. The word "peer" indicates acceptance of a person by individuals in the same age group and this is the concept that will be employed in this report. The Relationship to Various Factors The literature abounds with discussions of the characteristics of socially accepted and unaccepted individuqfs. Various words have been used to describe highly accepted adolescents such as friendly, _1iking others, happy, not conceited, helpful, self confident, truthful, courteous, and unselfish. The major factors in determining the peer acceptance of an individual appear to be "personality" traits. Research to uncover such traits has been done by Gronlund and Anderson,2 Kuhlen 4 and Lee,3 and Anastasi and Miller. Bonney stated that while socially 1Evan R. Keislar, "A Distinction Between Social Acceptance and Prestige among Adolescents," Child Development, XXIV (1953), pp. 275-283. 2N. E. Gronlund and L. Anderson, "Personality Characteristics of Socially Accepted, Neglected and Rejected Junior High School Pupils," Educational Administration and Sgpervision, XLIII (October 1957), pp. 329-339. 3R. G. Kuhlen and B. J. Lee, "Personality Characteristics and Social Acceptance in Adolescence," Journal of Educational Psychology, XXXIV (1943), pp. 321-340. 4Anastasi and Miller, loc. cit. -7- acceptable children possess‘a larger number of desirable traits in common, it is impossible to classify popular and unpopular children on the basis of personality traits only.1 According to the research it is the total personality configuration, rather than a specific trait which operates to determine an individual's acceptability. Hurlock discussed changes in peer acceptance standards in the . different age periods through which a child develops. The young adolescent quickly discovers that traits, not important as a child, now hear weight on being accepted. "Being popular or accepted' by his peers is one of the strongest desires of the typical young adoles- cent . . . ."2 The adolescent who feels accepted will usually develop satisfactory attitudes and behaviors and is "more willing to conform to the standards of the group."3 Sometimes the young adolescent becomes so involved in being accepted by the crowd that he does not realize his own needs, interests and feelings.4 The older adolescent is more realistic. He is more aware of his true peer acceptance, yet can adapt to the situation. Hurlock reported that at this age level certain types of people no longer are highly accepted but general characteristics become important.5 1Bonney, _p.‘gig., p. 65. zHurlock, 92. 515., p. 294. 31bid., p. 292. 4H. Lane and M. BeauChamp, Understanding_Human Development (Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall Inc., 1959), p. 340. SHurlock, 22, gig., pp. 292-294, 342-344. - -<—————_——____ _________-_______.._ -3- In the school situation the general expectation is that the number of unaccepted individuals will decrease with the grade in school as a result of a proportionately high drop-out rate for unintegrated members. However, not all researchers found this entirely true.1 Hollingshead's‘study indicated that "clique mates . . . tend to be members of the same class,"2 and Kelley found that girls tended to form friendships according to their social class position.3 Neugarten's research showed a striking relationship existing between friendship choices and social class for children in grades five and six, but not in grades ten and eleven. In the higher grades "upper class position guaranteed only that attention to reputation would be forthcoming whether good or bad."4 From this she concluded that adoles- cents are more adept at disguising lower class position than are pre- adolescents. Hurlock suggested that average or above average socio-economic status is one of the many characteristics of a socially accepted adolescent, whereas a lower socio-economic class may be a characteristic associated with unpOpularity.5 1Gordon, 22. 233., p. 86. 2August B. Hollingshead, Elmstowds Youth (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1949), pp. 293-294. 3Eleanor Ann Kelley, "Peer Group Friendships in One Class of High School Girls: Change and Stability" (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1966), p. 164. 4Bernice L. Neugarten, "Social Class and Friendship among School Children," American Journal of Sociology, LI (January 1946), p. 313. SHurlock, gp. cit., p. 293. .———. —. - -._p- . ‘- -- r _ ——-. ——————~—‘-“C—“ -‘ m~ -9- Discussions.of peer acceptance and academic achievement were noted in the literature. ‘Hurlock mentioned that an adolescent who has low peer acceptance may'devote himself to school studies in the hopes of increasing his peer acceptance through academic prestige.1 Ryon and Davie did a study in which the data revealed that academic achieve- ment might earn the student a certain amount of prestige. They also noted a small, but significnat positive relationship between grades and acceptance among the high school students tested.2 In an attempt to link peer acceptance with interests, Marks concluded that for girls intellectual interests may provide compensation for isolation but at the same time add to it.3 Hurlock remarked that although school success can bring more popularity to girls with members of their own sex, usually they are less popular with both sexes than girls with average 4 grades. Jersild wrote that students who were deemed to be low acceptance adolescents were failing in school.5 The findings of Hendricks' study refute most findings that there is a positive relation- ship between acceptance and academic achievement. She found that isolate; and\mutua1 pair friendships tended to have higher averages, including a greater percentage of honor roll members than more highly accepted individuals.6 11bid., p. 343. 2Ryon and Davie,‘gp. cit., pp. 101-106. 3J. B. Marks, "Interests, Leadership, and Sociometric Status among Adolescents," Sociometry, XVII (November 1954), pp. 340-349. 4Hurlock, 22.‘gig., p. 294. SJersild, pp, g;5., p. 259. 6Hendricks, _p.‘gig., p. 112. -10- ‘Moore conducted a study on adolescent status and reported an interesting finding regarding a differentiation in status between the sexes. Girls tend toward a higher status placement than boys "probably owing to their willingness to adapt their interest, activities, and behaviors to peer group-approved as.we11 as teacher-approved roles."1 Although status and acceptance are not synonymous, acceptance is an aSpect of status and this finding might be true for peer acceptance also. A comparison of two groups of adolescents matched in sex ratio, age, and grade level but differing sharply in scholastic achievement and socio-economic level, was conducted by Anastasi and Miller. Factors listed by all the students as important fell into the stereotype of the popular, well-dressed adolescent.2 Measurement of Peer Acceptance Researchers have attempted to investigate peer acceptance through various techniques. The most common methods are based on sociometry which is a means of measuring interpersonal preferences or social choices.3 Moreno has indicated the esSential nature of the sociometric test by stating that it "consists in an individual choosing his associates for any group of which he is or might become a member,"4 and it measures 1Noel S. Moore, "Status Criteria and Status Variables in an Adolescent Group" (unpublished Ed. D. dissertation, Wayne State University, 1967), p. 132. 2Anastasi and Miller, 22. cit., pp. 43-50. 3Julius Gould and William Rolb, A Dictionary of the Social Sciences (New York: The Free Press, 1964), p. 684. 4J. L. Moreno, Who Shall Survive? (New York: Beacon House, 1953), p. 13. , -11- "the extent of acceptance or rejection of individuals in a group."1 The sociometric technique provides a means of representing an important part of the individual's social environment, by showing the environment as perceived by others. ‘Through such a test an attempt is made to determine the feelings of members towards each other. Some limitations of the sociometric test include the fact that the information is only given about the subjects in that group at that time and the depth of feeling involved in the preferences is not known.2 These questions may elicit conscious opinions which may not be the actual feelings of the individual.3 One of the advantages of the sociometric technique is that the individual can do little to affect his own score by responses on the test, even though he may wish to place himself in a desirable light.4 Therefore, it is an objective measure. The researcher must be conscious of the requirements whflfllare involved in administering a sociometric test. As advocated by Moreno, these include: 1. The limits of the group should be indicated to the respondents. 2. An unlimited number of choices should be allowed. 3. Choosing should be done in terms of specific criteria. 11bid., p. 10. 2Mary L. Northway and Lindsay Weld, Sociometric Testing--A Guide for Teachers (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1957), p. 5. 3Michael S. Olmstead, The Small Group (New York: Random House, 1959), p. 98. 4Kenneth L. Cannon, "Stability of Sociometric Scores of High School Students," Journal of Educational Research, LII (October 1958), p. 43. -%——- -——-—" -- * _...__ ——-_._.—«—-—-.. . .——> -12- 4. The choices-must be made and kept private. 5. The results should be used to reconstruct the group. 6. The questions should be constructed to the level of understanding of the group.1 Tests which do not meet all of these requirements are called "near" or "quasi" sociometric tests.2i Usually the criteria of reconstructing the group is omitted. The sociometric technique which.is generally employed to measure peer acceptance has many variations. ,The Ohio Social Acceptance Scale and similar instruments measure subjective rankings of every individual in a group by every other person, usually on a six-point scale. This measure is mentioned by Kerlinger,3 and Lindzey and Borgatta;4 and has been used by such investigators as ToomireS and Kittles.6 Bunderson7 and Katz8 are researchers who used rejections as ‘K \ well as choices, however, Masumoto found that these negative questions 1Lindzey and Borgatta, 22. cit., p. 407. 21bid., p. 408. 3F. N. Kerlinger, Foundations of Behavioral Research (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1964), p. 555. 4Lindzey and Borgatta, _p. cit., p. 409. SToomire, 22. cit., p. 29. 6Kitt1es,'gp.'git., p. 14. 7Bunderson, 22. cit. 8Irving 8. Katz, "A Study of the Stability of the Self-Concept and Its Relationship to Sociometric Status and Sociometric Perception," (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Michigan State University, 1956), p. 75. -13- were not well received by the adolescent population she researched.1 Many investigators have measured acceptance by utilizing reciprocated choices, that is, mutual acceptance. The levels of acceptance are then considered in such terms as large reciprocated groups, small reciprocated groups, mutual pairs and isolates. The usual methods of analysis for this technique include the matrix and the sociogram, for 2 example, as used by Kelley and Williams.3 Sometimes weights are assigned according to first choice, second choice and so on as by 4 5 Bonney, Kittles and Cannon, gg‘gl.6 Northway studied correlations between weighted and unweighted scores and decided there was no signi- -ficant difference between the two methods.7 One method that has been used, other than sociometry, was ratings by adults especially teachers. Bonney found that teachers in general were not very accurate in their evaluations of students. They tended to overrate students who were outstanding in class and courteous but lacking in interpersonal relations, and underrated those who did not respond to school work or who antagonized teachers but were liked w? 1Sachiko Masumoto, "The Relationship of Dress and Behavior Associated with Dress to the Social Participation of the Adolescent Boy and Girl" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Pennsylvania State Univer- sity, 1958), p. 26. 2Kelley, 22!.ELE'9 p. 28. 3Williams, _2, gig., p. 35. 4Bonney,‘9_2. cit., p. 2. 5Kittles, 22. cit., p. 16. 6Cannon, Staples and Carlson, 22. cit., p. 711 7Mary L. Northway, "Personality and Sociometric Status," §gciometry Monographs, IX (Bound by Michigan State University), p. 19. .—.———_,-.-————~————.—-—- ... i n-—--—-—-——-—— standards. -14- 1 by their peers. The characteristics liked by adolescents are sometimes difficult for an adult to detect because he cannot use an adolescent's 2 "Following the assumption that every choice has the same meaning (under a given criterion), it is only common sense to believe that any individual's 'popularity' or 'acceptance' will be directly proportional to the number of choices which he receives, called his 'choice status.'"3 This score may also be called his "sociometric status score" or "social aéceptance score" (peer acceptance score).4 Sometimes the number of choices is divided by the number of individuals in the test population minus one (because no individual chooses himself). However, this index is often used without the (NFl) factor according to Northway5 and Proctor and Loomis;6 and as used by Cannon7 and Katz.8 Proctor and Loomis write of index analysis that it: . . . attempts to squeeze down some highly complex phenomena to simple linear measurement. They do however give unique results which are conclusive if sufficient cases are collected to warrant statistical analysis. 1Merlée E. Bonney, ”Sociometric Study of Agreement Between Teacher Judgments and Student Choices-~In Regard to the Number of Friends Possessed by High School Student," Sociometry, X (May 1947), pp. 133-146. 2Jersild, 22..g££., p. 282. 3Charles H. Proctor and Charles P. Loomis, "Analysis of Socio- metric Data," Research Methods in Sociafl Relations, Part II ed. Marie Jahoda, gt 31. (New York: Dryden Press, 1951), p. 569. 4Mary L. Northway, Primer of Sociometry (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1952), p. 8. SIbid. 6Proctor and Loomis, gp.lg££., p. 571. 7Cannon, gp.‘gi£., p. 44. 8Katz, _p..gig., p. 27. 9Proctor and Loomis, _2, gig., p. 585. -_.— - ———-———..——_- *-N .————-—-— -..- .Kittles,5 Gordon, -15- In measuring peer acceptance various sociometric questions covering many aspects of seceptance have been asked. Williams,l Bjorngaard,2 Dillon,3 and Masumotoa asked questions concerning popular- ity and friendship choices. Questions on leadership were included by 6 and Lundberggand Dickson.7 Other sociometric questions focused on other aspects of acceptance including partners for working with on.a particular project. These studies indicate some of the major aspects of acceptance: friendship, work companions, popularity, and leadership. Therefore, it would seem best not to limit acceptance to one consideration such as friendship but have several indices of acceptance. Clothin Human beings are sometimes judged, accepted or rejected on the basis of what they wear. An adolescent is at an age where acceptance is a factor causing much anxiety, and as he tends to think in concrete rather than abstract terms, clothing and appearance seem tangible ways to help gain this acceptance. Consequently, clothing and appearance assume a position of great importance to adolescents. 1Williams, 22, gig. 2Bjorngaard, 22. gig. 3191110... 22. _c_1_c_. 4Masumoto, _2, gig. SKittles, gp. gi_t_., p. 15. 6Gordon, 22, cit., p. 163. 7G. A. Lundberg and L. Dickson, "Selective Association among Ethnic Groups in a High School Population," American Sociological Review, XVII (February 1952), p. 23. - _~.—-—-_ ‘_ -16- Coleman's Study of The Adolescent Society encompassed the social systems of ten high schools. He found that students in every school identified a leading crowd and indicated they would like to be accepted by that group. Clothing was the third most frequently mentioned item by both girls and boys to "get in" with the crowd.1 Coleman concluded that the: . . . overall response to these questions suggests that in adolescent cultures these superficial, external attributes of clothes and good looks do pervade the atmosphere to the extent that girls come to feel that this is the only basis or the 'most important' basis on which to excel.2 In Stout and Latzke's study clothing was seen as being sometimes important in being accepted by a group,3 and when Bjorngaard focused on questions of general acceptance and pfipularity, omitting references to clothing, responses were made involving clothing and appearance as well as general personality characteristics.4 Williams' study on the same adolescent population as Bjorngaard's concluded that clothing was con- sidered second in importance in being accepted by the "popular" crowd, as well as the way a new girl would be judged.5 A similar finding was reported by Toomire in her research on adolescent girls from three high schools of varying socio-economlc levels. She stated that: 1Coleman, 22, £15., p. 36. 21bid., p. 52. 3D. R. Stout and A. Latzke, "Values College Women Consider in Clothing Selection," Journal of Home Economics, L (June 1958), pp. 43-44. 4Bjorngaard, gp.‘gi£., p. 62. SWIIIIBIDS, .220 $.09, p0 1270 -—-—--——-—_— -17- A good appearance could be an advantage when adolescents desire to join a club. Girls in this investigation felt appearance was a factor in one's being accepted into a club. Thus, one can see that appearance may be an influential factor in the adolescent being accepted into a social organization.1 A study conducted by Moore to elicit from twelfth grade students specific criteria for status-level assignment, included positive and negative appeerance items comprising both physical appearance and dress. The positive appearance items were mentioned mainly in reference to girls and the negative appearance items, mainly for boys. This may indicate that girls generally have a better appearance than boys. "The well dressed student seems not to be regarded as unattractive, although the shabbily dressed or unkempt person is singled out for censure regardless of physical characteristics."2 Moore also concluded that the "rebel- lious personality," especially if a boy, would not be accorded high status placement if his clothes revealed his rebellion. Several authors implied that a feeling of being well dressed may directly or indirectly affect one's acceptance or feeling of acceptance. Flaccus reported in 1906 that girls at that time experienced a feeling of being more sociable when well dressed.3 Ryan found similar results as to the part clothing plays in the felt degree of social participation4 1Toomire, gp.‘gig., p. 39. 2Moore, gp. 31.5., p. 136. 3L. W. Flaccus, "Remarks on the Psychology of Clothes," Pedagogical Seminary, XIII (March 1906), p. 74. 4Mary S. Ryan, Psychological Effects of Clothing. Part I. Survey 'of the Opinions of College Girls (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 882, September 1952), p. 6. ~ v ——-—.--——_—-.-_—.— ~———-——___ ~ .— -—b_—_.._~--__—__ _._-r.. m—a—fi .A———-_.—-__.. -13- and in a later study came to the conclusion that boys are just as much affected as girls are by feeling well or poorly dressed.1 Alexander examined the desire to feel well dressed in terms of several variables, one of which whs acceptance. The category called acceptance (belonginess, keeping friends and conforming) included many responses having a definite in-group feeling. In other words, there was a concern for belonging and being accepted. The percentage of high school students indicating that clothing was important because it meant acceptance by the group was very high; however, for the college students this reason was not of great importance.2 For adolescents then, clothing seems to assume a great significance when the focus is on being accepted by a group. However, when the emphasis for acceptance is between one indivi- dual and another, clothing is given a minor role according to the findings of several studies. Perrin's results revealed that a "pleasing dress" was ranked last of twenty traits when the subjects rated their close acquaintances.3 Austin and Thompson asked children to give the reasons for their friendship choices and found that physical appearance which included cleanliness, neatness, nice looks, and having nice clothes was rated fifteenth out of twenty-one characteristics.4 Similar results 1Mary S. Ryan, Psychological Effects of Clothing; Part II. Comparison of College Students with High School Students, Boys with Girls, (Ithaca, N. Y.: Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 898, July 1953), p. 26. 2Olive Ness Alexander, "A Pilot Investigation Of the Motives Underlying the Desire to Feel Well-dressed at Various Age Levels" (un- published Master's Thesis, Cornell University, 1961), pp. 12, 34. 3F. A. C. Ferris, "Physical Attractiveness and Repulsiveness," Journal of Experimental Psychology, IV (June 1921), p. 203. 4M. C. Austin and C. Thompson, "Children's Friendships: A Study of the Basis on which Children Select and Reject their Best Friends," Journal of Educational Psychology, XXXIX (1948), p. 101. . ...... ...._——— -19- are reported by Enty who found that adolescents were more interested in selecting their friends on the basis of neatness and cleanliness rather than the mode or quality ofclothes.1 In a longitudinal study of high school girls Williams and Hendricks concluded that clothing was con- sidered more important by all the girls for others than for themselves or their friends, and the manner in which a person dressed was not used by her best friends in judging her asca friend.2'3 After friendship is established, clothing does not seem to be used as a basis for judging one's friends. On the other hand, clothing seemingly is used to judge popular adolescents, or is one criterion for popularity. Clothing was discovered togbe important in describing the characteristics of popular adolescent girls in Williams'4 and Coleman's5 studies. ~Ana1yzing the isolates, Williams found that these girls felt clothing was even more important for popularity than the others did.6 Bjorngaard's research, part of the same longitudinal project as Williams' and Hendricks', revealed that there was a strong consensus that appearance was important in acceptance. The characteristic frequently used to describe the popular girl was "well dressed." Those girls named as popular were also referred to as 1Jane E. Enty, "The Effect of Clothing on the Social Adjustment of the Adolescent Girl" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Howard University, 1950), p. 36. 2Williams, 22. c_i_t_., p. 129. 3Hendricks, pp. gi£., p. 68. 4111111”... 22. c_1_c_., p. 127. SColeman, pp, gi£., p. 48. 611111111....“ 22. gig... p. 127. fi-‘- ‘-—‘——--— _._i. M ”-..,— ...—..— -20- "best dressed" and generally came from the upper social class.1 It should be pointed out that the population in the Bjorngaard study was atypical in regard to social class. Though no specific reference was made to clothing, Hardy found that two-thirds of a group called socially successful were described as having an attractive appearance while less than one-fifth of the unpopular children were so described.2 Personal Appearance 3 and Cannon, g£_gl,4 found a significant relationship Bunderson for adolescent girls between personal appearance, which included clothing, and peer acceptance; however, Kittles found no relationship or a slight- ly negative one between the same variables on young adolescent girls.5 Williams found that when the girls in her study were rated on appearance (including clothing, hair, figure, complexion and make-up) as either average or below average, proportionately more isolates and mutual pair members were rated below average than were large reciprocated friendship structure members which she considered indicated higher acceptance.6 Silverman's study indirectly supports the findings of Bunderson, Williams, and Cannon,‘gg.‘gl. She found that the better appearing group of girls liked companionship and social activities and were sought out as school 1Bjorngaard, 22, gig., p. 127. 2Martha Hardy, "Social Recognition at the Elementary School Level,? School Psychology, VIII (1937), 365-384. 3Bunderson,_p_.‘gi§_. p. 351. 4Cannon, Staples and Carlson, _p, gi£., p. 712. 5Kittles, gp. cit., p. 48. Williams, 32. 313., p. 53. -21- leaders whereas the poor appearing group had a greater dislike for ~companionship and had a smaller capacity for establishing friendship.1 No significant results, except in one junior high school, were found between acceptance and personal appearance for boys by Cannon, _£__l. althoughgthe data showed a trend in this direction.2 The findings for girls on this relationship between personal appearance and acceptance are contradictory and should be clarified, and for boys not enough research has been reported to establish any definite relationship. Measurement of Clothing Since the turn of the century researchers and theorists have been exploring the broad field of clothing. The majority of the investigators were primarily concerned with explaining variations in clothing attitudes in terms of differences in sex, age, education and occupation. The co-workers of the larger project, of which this study is a part, decided that there seems to be four general levels of inten- sity of clothing attitudes mentioned in the literature: awareness, as exemplified by Vener's research;3 interest, as exemplified in Rosencranz' dasterfs ’thesis;4 importance as exemplified in Kittles' 1Sylvia Silvermsn, "Clothing and Appearance," The Adolescent: A Book of Reagings, ed. Jerome Seidman (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1953), pp. 242-246. 2Cannon, Staples and Carlson, loc. cit. 3Arthur M. Vener, "Stratification Aspects of Clothing Importance: (unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1953). ' 4Mary Lou Rosencranz, "Study of Interest in Clothing among Selected Groups of Married and Unmarried Young Women" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Michigan State University, 1948). ‘- -..._.-_..- -22- l 2 doctoral study; and values, as exemplified in Lapitsky's research. Unfortunately, these terms were and are not yet clearly defined and .differentiated, for example Vener indicates that he is measuring clothing awareness but asks questions which are more concerned with how important clothing is rather than how aware people are of clothing. In general, most of the studies on clothing reported that certain aspects of clothing were of more significance to the subjects that Others. Aspects that were frequently mentioned include physical factors such as cost, neatness, comfort and beauty; social factors dealing with conformity and status; and factors centering on self-expression and the symbolic meaning of clothes. Ryan, 3 Alexander,4 Lapitsky,5 and Creekmore6 in particular did much to clarify and define this area of clothing. Lapitsky measured "clothing values" because the subjects were forced to choose the clothing aspect they most valued. Creekmore and others reported "clothing behaviors" as the subjects rated what they did in a given situation. Specific Clothing Aspects.--As used in this study the aspects of clothing importance are: the use of clothing to gain social approval or Special fl 1Emma Louise Kittles, "The Importance of Clothing as a Status Symbol among College Students" (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Ohio State University, 1961). 2Mary Lapitsky, "Clothing Values and Their Relation to General Values and tp Social Security and Insecurity" (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State Universty, 1961). 3Ryan, _p. cit. 4Alexander, pp. cit. SLapitsky, _p. cit. 6Anna Mary Creekmore, "Clothing Behaviors and Their Relation to General Values and to the Striving for Basic Needs" (unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Pennsylvania State University, 1963.) attention, comfort of clothing, modesty in clothing, psychological dependence on clothing, interest in clothing, aesthetic concern for clothing and management of clothing.1 The drive for popularity and acceptance among adolescents may lead to extreme conformity in many aspects of behavior.2 Martin and Stendler wrote that: "In adolescents the pressure for conformity to peer group standards becomes so great that it constitutes one of the major forces in the individual's life."3 An adolescent may feel pres- sured into conforming behavior in order to be accepted by his peers. It may be that clothihg{,because it is a visible and tangible object is an obvious way in which an adolescent can conform. Bonney, investigating factors which distinguish popular and unpopular children, reported the significance of conformity in many aspects of behavior, including dress, in establishing social acceptance,4 and Gordon discovered that the informal school organizations of cliques and friendship gave a tendency to conformity and group control over a wide range of behavior which included dress.5 Cannon, pp p1. found that all of the most popular girls from the seventh through the twelfth grades conformed closely to the norm for personal appearance6 and Dillon had similar conclusions for eighth 1Supra, p.30 for definition of terms. 2Lane and Beauchamp, pp. pip., p. 381. 3William Martin and Celia Stendler, Child Development: The Process of Growing;Up in SoCiety(New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1953), p. 447. 4Bonney, Sociometry Monographs, p. 6. 5Gordon, pp. cit., p. 99. 6Cannon, Staples and Carlson, pp. cit., p. 712. o -‘—_———.—_4 -ffl— -24- v / grade boys.1 Cannon, p£,pl. pointed out that:, Whether a good self-assurance with resulting social acceptance, or whether a strong social interest carries with it a desire to adopt a standard of dress and grooming which meets group approval we cannot say.2 Evan's study also on adolescents revealed different results. She reported that subjects who conformed the most were the least popular students and the popular students were the most independent in their clothing behavior.3 The different results from these three studies may be due to the age range of the adolescents and/or the definitions used of clothing conformity. The studies reviewed do not reach a unanimous agreement regarding the relationship between acceptance and conformity which is a part of the clothing aspect of social approval. Revolving around fashion and clothing leaderShip is another aspect of clothing, the use of clothing to acquire special attention it might be called. Kittles used scales on social acceptance, clothing 'judgment and clothing leadership. Although she found a positive relation- ship between social acceptance and clothing judgment, there was no relationship between social acceptance and clothing leadership.4 This finding does not completely agree with that of Janney's on college women: Fads which are followed are originated by the young women of the prestige-bearing cliques who are leaders in other types of \activities . . . Girls who are insensitive to fads are also “insensitive and unskillful in other social situations. lDillon, pp. pig” p. 124. 2Cannon, Staples and Carlson, pp. pip., p. 712. 3 4 Evans, pp. cit., p; 742. Kittles, pp. cit., p. 24. SJ. Janney, "Fads and Fashion Leadership among Undergraduate Women," Journal of Abnormal and Social Psycholpgy, XXXVI (1941), p. 275. . —_—~.—-—~——-—-— -25- Although modesty of the body has been given as a reason for the origin of clothing, few writers feel it is a prime motive in clothing behavior. Silverman1 and Barr2 report that modesty is related to current clothing values, and what is in Vogue is not generally considered immodest. The desire for comfort is mentioned as anhther motivational factor in such studies as Barr,3 Creekmore,5 and Alexander.5 Aiken reports that students checking "comfort in dress" were characterized on a personality inventory as social, self-controlled and deferent to authority.6 Many writers investigating various areas of clothing have revealed \ a the importance of the appearance, becomingness and aesthetic qualities 8 and Brady9 reported of clothing. Studies by Lapitsky, 7 Creekmore, that a concern for appearance rated higher than any other clothing aspect. Creekmore's study, in which clothing behaviors are related to 1Silverman, pp. pip., p. 244. 2Estelle DeYoung.Barr, "A Psychological Analysis of Fashion Motivation," Archivej;o§;Ppychology, CLXXI (1934), p. 100. 31bid. 4Creekmore, pp. cit., p. 11. 5Alexander, pp. pip., p. 20. 6Lewis R. Aiken, "The Relationship to Selected Measures of Personality in Undergraduate Women," Journal of Social Psycholpgy, LIX (September 1963), pp. 119-128. 7Lapitsky, _p. cit., p. 172. 8Creekmore,pp. cit., p. 48. 9Betty L. Brady, "Clothing Behavior: Refinement of a Measure and Relationships with Social Security and Insecurity for a Group of College Women” (unpublished Master's Thesis, Pennsylvania State University, 1963), p. 60. o _I Hi— “——_- —_-__-. q -..—~_ ———-———————_1__ -- -25- the striving for the satisfaction of certain basic needs, found that an emphasis on appearance was related to certain needs, including belongingness. The economical and managerial aspects of clothing have been men- tioned in many studies as being important. The economical aspect may become more relevant to the adolescent particularly as he gains control of a larger part of the business market. .Evans found that a larger percent- age (73 percent) of the most popular high school adolescents wished to choose garments on their own while only 46 percent of the least popular did.2 This might possibly indicate that there is a relationship between the clothing aspect of management and peer acceptance. There is more than one type of interest in clothing as is indi- cated by the various measurements that have been used. As defined in this study the clothing aspect of interest is an experimentation with . , I . clothing. Ryan hypothesizes that the individual who is uaéfire of himself I is more interested in clothes than the individual who is self-assured socially, and also that "in the specific situation we would expect that the individual would be more concerned in the social situation in which he was unsure of his acceptance than in the social situation in which he ' is with friends."3 Assuming a relationship between acceptance and self- confidence one could think that those who sought peer acceptance would score the highest on clothing interest. However, as this study did not measure desire for peer acceptance and the clothing behavior of interest 1Creekmore, pp, pip., p. 150. 2Evans, pp, pip., p. 742. 3Mary Shaw Ryan, Clothing: A Study in Human Behavior (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1966), p. 6. I 1 ~____ -27- is not defined as it often is, the relationship was not postulated this way. Satisfaction or dissatisfaction with clothing probably has greater effects upon the mood and action of the individual during adolescence than at any other {island of his life. This follows naturally from his heightened interest in clothes and his anxiety to be accepted by his peers. Countless articles have been written on the effects of clothing nothonly on emotion but even upon actual behavior. Certain people may use clothing to help influence their mood and behavior, that is, they are psychologically dependent on clothes. The reoccurring theme in the research and writings reviewed seems to be that when acceptance is important to the adolescent, clothing and appearance are also significant. When theemphasis for acceptance is between one individual and another after friendship is established, clothing is accorded a minor role. However, clothing seems to play a leading part in the eyes of the adolescent in being accepted by a group or crowd. In describing the characteristics of the popular teen-agers, clothing appears to be one criterion, doubtlessly because it is most visible and easily verbalized. Some of the researchers, concerned with acceptabiity and personal appearance, found a positive relationship between these variables for girls. The drive for acceptance 'and popularity among adolescents often leads to conformity in many aspects of behavior. The young adolescent in particular will look to his cloth- ing as one of the most discernible ways to conform to his peer group. The individual looks to his clothing to present himself in the best light, to create an impression which will lead to acceptance by his peers. ‘— . a. w‘-‘.- -23- Thus, clothing may become a means for personal assurance and support in making one feel accepted by others. This study may help clarify the importance of various aspects of clothing to general behavior for there still remains much to be done "in explaining the various behaviors reflected in clothing practices . . . beyond 'protection,' warmth,’ or 'modesty.'"1 1Mary Lou Rosencranz, "Social And Psychological Approaches to Clothing Research,? Journal of Home Economics, LVII (January 1965), p. 26. —— -_——_._.__—— ____ C—e‘__‘_ ._—_. ..-—_— —-.—-—.‘—— CHAPTER III STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM -Statement of the Problem Little research has been conducted relative to the relation- ship between aspects of clothing and general human behavior. The concern of this study is to investigate the relationships between an adolescent's acceptance by his peers, aspects of clothing and objectively rated personal appearance. This study is a part of a larger project investigating the relationship of clothing to the self- concept of adolescents.1 Definition of Terms The investigators in the larger project co-operatively devised the following definitions for the clothing terms and personal appear- ance, and this author formulated the definition for peer acceptance. Although similar terms in the literature were noted, the present definitions are unique to this project. 1Anna Mary Creekmore, "The Relationship of Clothing to Self- Concept and to Attitudes toward Clothing" (unpublished research in progress for Michigan State University Agricultural Experiment Station, Project M-784). -29- I -4 ._4— “.w—‘ “..“._‘--—_H* _- c W A a,” --.—... “r -30- Peer Acceptance Peer acceptance is the favorable or unfavorable reception of a person in a group comprised of individuals of a similar age. There are various degrees of acceptance, ranging onva continuum from very high acceptance to little or no acceptance. Peer acceptance is used interchangeably with therterm social acceptance. By definition of the words in the term alone, social acceptance denotes "acceptance by people in general," and so is a more inclusive term. The word "peer" indicates acceptance of a person in the same age group and this is the concept employed in this writing. Clothing Clothing refers to the use of and attitudes toward clothing. The aspects of clothing covered.in this study are: Aesthetic concern refers to theuse of clothing to achieve a pleasing or beautiful appearance. Included as a part of appearance is neatness in dress. Comfort means the use of clothing to achieve comfort whether this relates to temperature, physical response to certain textures, or the acceptance of tightness or looseness in garments. Interest in clothing refers to the willingness to give attention, to investigate, to manipulate or experiment with the putting together of the parts of a costume. ' Management refers to the thoughtful and careful use of resources including the use of time, money and energy in planning, buying and using clothing; thus, it can be an economic aspect of clothing usage. ...—...“ -—-—--—-—-———-—- —-—- m ‘-" -.-‘-»'--—-—-~—— _.-.—- - ...-.- .. .——-—. .——- -..fl— -... _._ __.. -...._ __——- ————-—H _—-—o——- _—.-.——. ...-an. *a—I—n- -—-—— ‘- -31- Modesty refers to the use of inconspicuous clothing which is conservative in fit, design, color and body exposure. Psychological dependence is used toindicate a person's sensitivity to the influence of clothing on his feelings which includes general good feelings, senSe of well being and changing of moods. Social approval is the use of clothing to attain a feeling of belongingness or the approval of others in a particular role and usually indicates conformity to the group norms. A Special attention is the seeking of prestige and status through ‘ the use of clothes. The attention that is sought may be either socially approved or not approved depending on the reference group. Personal Appearance Personal appearance includes both dress and grooming and is comprised of a harmonious appearance, neatness in appearance, appro- priateness for the occasion, becomingness, hair and make-up (for girls only). Hypotheses The following hypotheses have been postulated: I. A positive relationship will exist betweenppger acceptance and personal appearance for girls. II. A relgtionship will exist between peer acceptance and clothing as follows: A. There will be a positive relationship between peer acceptance and aesthetic concern for clothing. B. There will be a positive relationship between peer acceptance and interest in clothing. “...-on...“- —--—-‘.- “...-..., ...-9- :‘fi—.,_. “ III. D. -32- There will be a relationship between peer acceptance and the use of clothing for'pocial approval. There will be a relationship between peer acceptance and the use of clothing to seek special attention. A relationship;will_pxist between personal appearance and clothing as follows: A. B. There will be a positive relationship between personal appear- anée and aesthetic concern for clothing. There will be a positive relationship between personal appear- ance and interest in clothing. ' There will be a positive relationship between personal appear- ance and the use of clothing for social approval. There will be no relationship between personal appearance and the clothing aspects of: the use of clothing to gain special attention, psychological dependence on clothing, management of clothing, comfort in clothing, or modesty in clothing. Assumptions The following assumptions are basic to the research design: 1. The peer acceptance score will be a measure of one's acceptance by his peers and an outward measure of a social characteristic called acceptability. 2. Peer acceptance is a dominant value in the adolescent subculture and the subjects are motivated to achieve group acceptance. 3. An adolescent's peers exert important influences on his ‘behavior. 4. Specific aspeCts of clothing reflect values placed on clothing. 4 iii cgfifieef..'fiV_—_fi_._.———v._——-————- -33- PM The limitations of the study design are: 1. 7. As a non-probability sample was used, therefore, the infor- mation obtained describes only the subjects. The sample was probably biased somewhat in the direction of the lower achieving student because the heavier class loads of the better students excluded them from many study hall periods. The depth of feeling involved in the sociometric choices was not known.: A sociometric test does not give the actual social behavior of the respondents. The peer acceptance score was not a complete measure of acceptance as the entire school did not answer the socio- metric questions. The data were collected during the first month of school opening in the fall. Although freshmen were not included as subjects, the time factor of the students knowing each other may have affected the sociometric questions. Due to the larger number of subjects in each study hall, five investigators were necessary to make the objective personaiflappearance ratings; and 100 percent reliability among five investigators is rare. TSThe clothing observations had to be taken with the suhjects sitting. Some of the subjects were observed in an auditorium and this made it difficult to obtain a thorough personal appearance rating. CHAPTER IV METHODOLOGY The object of this research was to test the relationship between peer acceptance, personal appearance, and aspects of clothing. The independent variable was considered to be peer acceptance and the depen- dent variables, clothing and personal appearanCe. The order of the procedure is as follows: (1) selection of community and subjects; (2) development and selection of measures; (3) administration of the measures; and (4) statistical analysis. Description of Research Site The community selected for this study was a mid-western city with a population of approximately 15,000. It is a stable, middle income community and serves as an important industrial center for the area. According to the census the total median educational level for persons twenty-five years of age and over in the county is 9.5 years of schooling as compared with 10.8 years for the entire state. Residents of the county have a family median income of $5,575 as compared with $6,256 for the state.1 1‘U.S. Bureau of the Census, Michigan General Social and Eco- nomic Characteristics: 1960. Population, pp. 184-185, 191. -34- -35- Several criteria were considered in the selection of the high school used in the study: 'a central high school for an entire county was used to lessen the chance of biasing social class representation by having a range of family socio-economic positions, both rural and urban students were included, and a school with a large enrollment was used in order to obtain a sample of approximately 500 students in grades ten through twelve. The enrollment total for 1966 was about 1,850 students for grades nine through twelve in an overcrowded building. Approximately one-third of the students came from rural districts, one- third from the fringes of the city and one-third from the city itself. The school had some standards regarding appropriate dress which were set forth on the first page of the student handbook. These indicated that appropriate dress, neatness, cleanliness and good groom- ing were a part of the school's endeavours as a character-building agency. Boys were asked to wear wash or drebs trousers with shirts buttoned and tucked into the trousers. Girls were to wear dresses or skirts, and not skirts resembling shorts. The school discouraged the wearing of fad clothing. Selection of Subjects. '\‘The\sample was an accidental nonprobability one of 251 boys and 270 girls in grades ten, eleven and twelve as available in six study halls. Originally, it was planned to make a random selection of subjects. However, this was not possible because of the over crowded building with staggered classes going on all day, no empty rooms and the bus transportation many students. An effort was made to balance the representation from each grade. -35- -Development and Selection of Measures The questionnaire of the larger project of.which this study is a part obtained information on: (1) clothing; (2) self-concept; (3) body image; (4) social background information on age, grade, sex, social class and transfer status; (5) school activities. Other information obtained was personal appearance, honor roll poéition and sociometric ‘position. The present study focused on clothing and the social back- ground as well as personal appearance and peer acceptance. Peer Acceptance Various techniques for measuring peer acceptance are currently in use: thexmethod chosen was a "near" Sociometric technique.1 The entire school responded to the sociometric questions and for this study the number of times each individual name was cited was tallied and became the raw score. The raw scores were coded into eight cate- gories according to the number of choices received, there being groupings for (1) no choices; (2) 1-5; (3) 6-10; (4) 11-20; (5) 21-40; (6) 41-80; (7) 81-160; and (8) 161 and above. This particular categor- ization was made because it was believed that receiving no choices was important and that approximately six votes would be the typical score (choices on friendship and work companions). The rest of the coding was based on arithmetic progression. Transfer students were eliminated from this project because the data was collected near the beginning of school opening. 1Supra, p. 34 for explanation. ...—.... ..rfl »\ -37- The sociometric method used was thought best for this particu- lar sample because the sample was not an entire grade, the data were collected during the first month of school opening and because the study halls were large and met infrequently. The questions used in this study were considered to cover the major aspects of acceptance as reported in the literature: popularity, friendship, leadership and work companiolhs.1 The sociometric questions were modified from the questionnaires of Dillonzand Lundberg and Dickson.3 See Appendix B. The usual methods of ascertaining reliability and validity do not seem designed for the sociometric technique. Pepinsky states that reliability and validity do not mean the same thing in sociometry as in other social science techniques.4 ,This is because most tests supposedly measure a constant trait and it is a basic assumption of sociometry that conditions in human social groups are variable with time. Also because it is felt that a participant will not respond to another individual of the.group on different criteria with equal intensity. Complete honesty on the pert of the respondents is the best method to obtain valid and reliable data. This in turn hinges upon the 1Supra, p. 15 . 2Dillon, pp. cit., Appendix B. 3G. A. Lundberg and L. Dickson, "Selective Association among Ethnic Groups in a High School Population," American Sociological Review, XVII (February 1952), p. 23. ' 4Pauline N. Pepinsky, "The Meaning of Validity and Reliability as Applied to Sociometric Tests," Journal of Educational and Psycho- logical Measurements, IX (1946), p. 45. -33- researcher. The reliability and validity bear strongly on.the criteria, that is the specific situations posed in the questions. The criteria must be strong, enduring and definite; not weak, transitory and indefin- ite. They must be such that the subjects will respond to the questions and with a large amount of spontaneity.1 Jenningd statement is often quoted by users of sociometric measures in which she states: "Any behavior is valid, providing choices are made on criteria holding significance for the subject."2 Although it does not seem logical to apply the normal checks of reliability and validity to the area, such investigators as Cannon,3 Gronlund and Whitney,4 and McGuire and White5 have found that there is a positive relationship of the social acceptance of an individual in various groups and over time. Northway has formulated an hypothesis along these dimensions: "An individual's acceptance score as measured .in one group is a reliable index to what his acceptance score will be in a reasonably similar (cultural-age) group."6 Personal Appearance The co-workers in the larger project of which this study is a part felt that an observed clothing measure was needed partially for its 1Lindzey and Borgatta, pp. pip., p. 407. 2Helen H. Jennings, Leadership and Isolation (New York: Longmans, Green and Col, 1950), p. 27. 3Cannon, pp, pip., pp. 43-48. 4Gronlund and Whitney, pp. pip., p. 267. 5McGuire and White, pp. cit., p. 397. 6Northway, "Personality and Sociometric Status," p. 57. _-—....———w—.—- _— ‘— ' ..‘._._ -39- own value and partially as a check on the subject-rated clothing questionnaire. The ratings of personal appearance were made by five investigators during the two different times when the questionnaire was administered. Five investigators were necessary because of the large number of students who had to be rated in a short time. Scales devised by Bunderson1 and Iowa State University2 were used as sources of inspiration to develop a new scale which took into account that the subjects had to be observed in a sitting position and the lower portion of their bodies would not be seen. The five-point rating scale had ratings on five aspects of dress and appearance for both sexes: harmony, becomingness, neatness, appropriateness and hair; for girls the addi- tional aspect of make-up was used. See Appendix B. Each aspect was rated on a five-point scale with the total possible score for a girl being thirty, and for a boy, twenty-five. The personal appearance score was the mean of the two different observations. Then this score was coded into six categories making male and female scores comparable and minimizing the discrepancy between raters. The coding method was arbi- trarily decided upon after a sample of the results of approximately 200 subjects was tallied. To establish the reliability of the personal appearance observa- tions the scale was pretested and revised by four of the investigators on twenty-eight subjects of a Home Economics class at several different 1Bunderson, pp. cit., p. 17. 2Lillian Navratil, Rating_Scale for Personal Appearance, Department of Textiles, Clothing and Education, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa (Peoria, Illinois: The Manual Arts Press, 1936). -40- times. To establish reliability of each rater over time and between raters, all five investigators rated a series of photographs. Reliabil- ity of these ratings was made by visual checking and face validity was assumed for the scale. Clothing The work on the clothing scale began with listing of all the aspects of clothing that could be thought of by five graduate students1 working on the project. After extensive discussion a compromise list of seven aspects was formulated: aesthetic concern for clothing, modesty in clothing, interest in clothing, the use of clothing to gain special attention, management of clothing, the use of clothing for social approval,iand comfort in clothing.2 An eighth aspect, psycho- logical dependence on clothing, was added as a later consideration as a result of other advice. These aspects of clothing have been considered by many other researchers in clothing although they used different classification systems and terms.3 The original ideas for some of the statements for the scale 4 5 began with those developed by Creekmore, Brady, and Sharpe6 because 1Sue Hundley, Mary Klaasen, Carolyn Andree, Mary Jane Young, and Karen Engél. See theses by Hundley, Klaasen, and Andree. 2§pppp, p. 30 for definitions. 3s_ppr_a_, p. 22. 4C,r.eaks.9.I-S.. 22- 21!.- 5Brady, pp. _c_i_l_:.. 6Elizabeth Sharpe, "Development of a Clothing Importance Scale" (unpublished Master's Thesis, Ohio State University, 1963). n...- —-.._———_... _- ”F, -41- they cOntained short groups of objective statements on many aspects of clothing. However, extreme modification was made of most statements, many eliminated, and additional new ones developed. The statements included all parts of the defined aspects of clothing in an appropriate proportion and at various levels of intensity of importance. Instead of having a separate category devoted to the theoretical concern for the reasons of clothing behavior, a statement covering this was included under each clothing aspect and was placed last in each grouping. Nega- tive statements were also introduced to avoid response set. The final eighty-nine statements were rated on a five-point scale from almost always to almost never. The first statement was only an opener and was not analyzed. Each aspect of clothing was represented by eleven statements and was scored separately to give eight different clothing totals with a possible range from 11-55. See Appendix A. The clothing questionnaire was pretested for reliability in three different situations. One pretpst was conducted on a summer school home economics class of twenty-eight girls..’This pretest contained 170 statements from which 123 statements were chosen for the second and third pretests. The second pretest was done on nineteen adolescents in a Junior Human Relations Council representing each school in the Lansing School System. Another pretest was conducted on sixty-eight graduate and undergraduate students in an education service course at the Pennsyl- vania State University. ,The Likert scale technique was used to test the internal consistency of the statements by an item analysis of high and low scores on the measure and then a selection of statements on the basis of its ability to discriminate. See Appendix A. Several graduate -42- students filled out the questionnaire in the final form to determine the length of time needed to answer it.. The clothing aspect of psychological dependence on clothing unfortunately was not pretested since it was added just before the data was collected. As a result of the pretests many statements were omitted and several modified to the present eleven for each aspect of clothing. An attempt was made to check internal reliability by having the subjects rank order a list of terms representing each clothing aspect. However, after the data were collected, this was drOpped because few respondents answered it correctly. There was no criteria for validity of the clothing scale other than face validity. Social Class The subject's socio-economic status of his family was determined by Hollinghead's index of social position which is based mainly on the -two factors of occupational role of the head of the household and the amount of education} This measure assumes that occupations have differ- ent values placed on them and the amount of formal training is reflected in the tastes and behavior of the family. The occupational index was based on a seven-point scale with one accorded to high occupational positipns and seven to lower occupatipnpl positions. The educational index also was divided into seven categories with one indicating the greatest amount of education and seven for the least amount. The two scores were integrated by weighting occupation as seven and education 1August B. Hollingshead, Two Factor Index of Social Position (published by the author, 1957). -43- as four. The total gives the index of social position with a low numer- ical scope indicating high social position. A reliability of .906 has been establiShed for this measure. See Appendix B. Academic Achievement Originally, grade point averages were sought but since they were only calculated for graduation, academic achievement was measured by whether or not the student was On the honor roll list. The honor roll contained students with A and B grades and was for the 1965-66 year and the first six weeks of fall, 1966. Collection of Data The self-administered questionnaire was given during two class periods, one week apart, to a possible 700 students in study halls. The questionnaire was given in two sessions because the length did not allow enough time in one class period and one measure (self-concept) had to be completed twice. The first half of the questionnaire included the clothing measure and the second part, the background questions. Intro- ductpry remarks were made each time by the same investigator. There were six different class periods Of data collection, the number of subjects in each group ranging from approximately 20 to 150. Names were not required on the questionnaire; initials, sex and birthdate were used to help match the two parts of the questionnaire. Observations were made on personal appearance while the questiondaire was being filled in, so each student was observed and rated on two different occasions. .Because of the large number of subjects in most study halls the observa- tions were made by five investigators. —_—.’ -44- The sociometric questions were presented separately and to the entire school during the intervening week. The difficulty with obtain- ing responses from all the students resulted from the lack of home rooms and staggered classes throughout the day, because of the overcrowding. Therefore, the teachers were asked to give the questions during the most populated school period (10 a.m.). No request was made for identifi- cation of the respondents. Method of Analysis To determine the association between the variables of peer acceptance, personal appearance, and clothing the data was coded and punched on IBM cards. To eliminate any differences due to sex, all data were processed separately for males and females. In order to ascertain patterns of results the information was statistically treated in several ways. ‘Means and standard deviations were calculated for the three major variables. The significance of differences between means (t-tests) were computed for peer acceptance and personal appearance between the males and females. Simple fre- quencies were used to further describe the patterning of peer acceptance and the background variables of social class, grade and honor roll were Obtained to describe.the-variables more fully. Upon consultation with a statistician Pearsonxrproduct-moment correlation coefficiehts were determined among the main variables. Of the various correlation coefficients in current use the one most frequently encountered is the Pearson r correlation coeffident and it is best for large smaples. Underlying assumptions of this correlation coefficient include the cOndition that there is linear regression and that the variables are continuous. __ .._4. _—.—o—-.~..~ .“or‘w - _‘ .m. . -45- The simple correlations included the peer acceptance score and each of the eight aspects of clothing, the peer acceptance score and the personal appearance score, the peer acceptance score and grade and social class, the personal appearance score and each of the eight aspects of clothing; and the personal appearance score and grade and social class. Partial correlations were made to determine the influence of certain background variables. The partial correlations included the peer acceptance score to each of the eight sapects of clothing, and between the peer acceptance score and the personal appearance score and between the personal appearance score and the clothing aSpects to con- trol the effects of grade and social class. Correlations involving academic achievement were not possible because of the crudeness of the measure; individuals were either on, or not on,.the honor roll. The test of significance for the correlations was a two-tail test to reject the null hypotheses at the .05 level of significance. From this statistical analysis significant relationships were noted and conclusions drawn. ....a»- --.—"...”...- ”...—*— .~M.~ *.—o—~*_ ”W’s—.5 ".... w-i—’ w- ...-u. “1* _‘u. ‘w‘ I- A... an“ CHAPTER v FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION The hypotheses formulated c£\investigate the relationship between peer acceptance, personal appearance and clothing guided the analysis of the data which was treated separately for males and females to exclude any variance due to sex differences. The statistical analyses resulted in low correlation coefficients with a seemingly high level of significance due to the large sample size. As reported the findings are applicable only to the subjects of this study though hopefully the results may provide insight or even hypotheses for futute research. The discussion of the findings will be reported in the order of: (1) biographical data, (2) peer acceptance, (3) person- al appearance, (4) clothing, (5) the relationship between peer acceptance and personal appearance, (6) the relationships between peer acceptance and clothing, and (7) the relationships between personal appearance and clothing. Bipgraphical Data Descriptive information of the subjects' social background was obtained from the questionnaire. The object of this information was to determine if any of these factors could affect the interpretation of the results. -46- _ ...- w—m _ s-.- ‘ -47- 'pge, Grade and Sex Although an attempt was made to balance representation of grades, there were more subjects in grade ten (36.3 per cent of the males and 39.3 per cent of the females) than in any other grade. Of course, there were presumably more students in grade ten in the school than in either grades eleven or twelve. -The number of boys and girls from each grade were: Male Female Total Grade 10 91 106 197 Grade 11 60 67 127 Grade 12 56 60 116 Unknown 44 37 81 The total number of students in the study was 521, 251 males and 270 females. The percentage of males and females in each grade was approximately balanced. Since age and grade logically correlate, both variables were not investigated for effeCt on the main variables. Grade was the criterion employed. _The ages of the subjects as of their last birthday were: 1e Female Total 13 I 4 l 5 14 ' '18 22 4o 15 76 106 182 16 71 72 143 17 ~ 64 64 128 18 ll 4 15 19 and above 2 O 2 Unknown 5 l 6 The mean age of the males was 15.9 years and was slightly higher than the corresponding figure for the females which was 15.3 years. _\-- ' - v -43- Family Background _ Social class was categorized into five levels based on the two factors of education and occupation according to Hollingshead's method. The distribution according to social class.for males and females is shown in Table 1. Social class I represents the highest income and educational level. The distribution was skewed towards the lower class levels, compared to the general population. Of the data available a larger percentage of the females placed in the lower class levels than did males, although more males failed to answer this part of the questionnaire correctly. The educational attainments of the Table 1.--Distribution of males and females according to social class Social Class Mbles Females No. I No. I I 8 3.2 7 2.6- II 10 4.0 6 2.2 III . 32 12.8 39. 14.4 1v . - 102 40.6 136 50.4 v 44 17.5 44 16.3 Unknown ' 55 4 21.9 38 14.1 Totals ', 251. 100.0 270 100.0 main wage earners are recorded in Table 2. The percentages in each educational level were similar for both sexes. Sixty-nine (27.5 per cent) of the male subjects had mothers employed outside the home with unavailable data for forty (15.9 per cent) of the males. The number ...” -""-0&- “_ MM.- * m ‘W w ...—_L -" ‘ ‘ " ‘ f_k~.- o -49- of mothers employed outside the home for female subjects was eighty- three (30.7 per cent) with unavailable data for thirty-four (12.6 per cent). In total, slightly over one-quarter of the mothers were employed outside the home. However, the mothers were the main wage earners for 2.8 per cent of the male subjects and 3.0 per cent of the female subjects. Table 2.--Distribution of males and females according to the main wage earner's education #7 Education Completed Male. Female No. 1 No. 1 Grade ‘school (some or .11) .. 67 26.7 h , 81 30.0 Some high School 46 18.3 50 18.5 Completed high school 62 24.7 71 26.? Some college 20 7.9 17 6:3 Completed college - 9 3.6 ' 8 3:0 Graduate work 8 3.2 7 _2.6 Unknown ‘ 39 15.5 36 13:3' Totals ~ 251 100.0 270 100.0 Honor Roll and Transfer Status Other background data pertinent to this study included transfer status and honor roll liSting. Only a small minority of the students, seven boys and thriteen girls or approximately 4 per cent of the total number of subjects indicated they were transfer students. These students were eliminated from any analysis concerning peer acceptance for reasons .—.--..-_ ...—m u. - .-a————-———— _. _fi- l‘vw Hfiw-_ _,.._. _/ -50- previously mentioned. The per cent of girls on the honor roll was 26.3 and was greater than the representation by boys which was 16.3 per cent. Peer Acceptance There were 1,421 replies (78 per cent of the total student body) to the Student Opinion Poll, (see Appendix B), the questionnaire designed to ascertain peer acceptance. In viewing these figures it should be kept in mind they do not account for absences, or those not present in school because of the staggered class scheduling. All except one class reportedly answered them. »The actual range of the number of choices received by any subject was from zero to 202 for one highly chosen girl. Potentially the range was equivalent to the number of students in each grade multiplied by four (for the four different questions asked). The mean peer acceptance category score was 1.64 (of the eight coded categories) for girls compared with 1.40 for the boys. It was not possible to accurately transpose these category means into votes because of the coding; however, for females it was approximately seven votes and for males, approximately five. This higher placement for girls is evident in Table 3, especially since more of the boys received zero choices than did the girls. However, there was more similarity between the sexes ferthe higher peer acceptance scores although two girls received over 160 choices and none of the boys placed at this level. The difference between the means was significant at the .05 level which means that this difference did not happen by -51- Table 3.--Distribution of males and females according to peer acceptance categories .._. . ._ I, , ,_ p m- Peer Acceptance Males Females Total Categories No. Z No. Z (mean per cent) 0 36 14.3 17 6.3 10.3 1- 5 110 43.8 117 43.3 43.5 6-10 46 ‘ 18.3 60 22.2 20.2 11-20 20 .8.0 34 12.6 10.3 21-40 4 1.6 6 2.2 1.9 41-80 2 .8 2 .7 .8 81-160 4 1.6 1 .4 1.0 161 and above 0 0.0 2 .7 .4 Unknown 29 11.6 31 11.5 11.6 Totals .251 100.0 270 100.0 100.0 Range 0-202 ———‘.h I.“ - ..., W‘— -‘ M ...—.-- --—__./ w ..— Mean for males 1.40 (approximately 5 votes) ' Mean for females 1.64 (approximately 7 votes) Standard deviation for males 1.15 Standard deviation for females 1.12 8Significant at the .05 level. chance alone. It should be noted that few students placed at the upper end of the continuum. In a study of high school students Moore1 found 1Moore, _p. pi£., p. 132. -52- that girls tended toward a higher status placement which might suggest the following hypothesis for additional research: adolescent girls will have a higher peer acceptance score than boys. The correlations between grade and peer acceptance in Table 4 indicate that there was no relationship between these variables. This finding is supported by the frequencies in Table 5 since no particular trends in the data are revealed. The grade 11 boys received the largest proportion of zero votes where 20 per cent could be considered isolates. In grade 12 a greater number of students placed in the higher peer acceptance categories; perhaps this was because the students had more chance to identify individuals as popular or as leaders. Table 4.--Simp1e correlations between peer acceptance and grade, and peer acceptance and social class for males and females — .:— Grade Social Class Peer Acceptance of Males -.02 .13 Peer Acceptance of Females -.09 .10 Although a relationship between peer acceptance and grade might logically be expected as a result of a proportionately high drop-out rate for socially and scholastically unsuccessful members, other researchers have not found this entirely true.1 A larger range of grades may be necessary to show a relationship between grade and peer acceptance. 1Gordon, pp. cit., p. 86. -53- Table 5.--Distribution of males and females in each grade according -to peer acceptance categories Azzzptance Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12 Unknown Categories No. Z No. Z No. Z No. Z 0 Male 12 13.2 12 20.0 6 10.7 6 14.0 Female 6 5.6 4 6.0 5 8.3 2 5.5 l- 5 Male 33 36.3 29 48.3 26 46.4 22 48.8 Female 35 33A0 35 52.2 35 58.3 12 33.3 6-10 Male 19 20.9 7 11.7 11 19.6 9 20.9 Female 30 28.3 11 16.4 9 15.0 10 27.8 11-20 Male 9 9.9 6 10.0 4 7.1 1 2.3 Female 16 15.1 9 13.4 5 8.3 4 11.1 21-40 Male 2 2.2 .2 3.3 0 0 0 0 Female 5 4.7 1 1.5 0 0 0 0 41-80 Male 1 1.1 0 0 1 1.8 0 0 Female 0 0 1 1.5 0 0 l 2.8 81:160 Male 1 '1.1 1 1.7 2 3.6 0 0 . Female 0 0 O 0 1 1.7 O 0 161 and Male 0 0 ‘0 0 0 0 O 0 above - Female 0 0 0 0 2 3.3 0 0 Unknown Male 14 15.4 3 5.0 6 10.7 6 14.0 Female 14 13.2 6 9.0 3 5.0 7 19.4 Totals Male 91. 100.0 60 100.0 56 100.0 43 100.0 Female 106 100.0 67 100.0 60 100.0 36 100.0 ~ —-—-<-- .- _- ...—.- ..——-—---—o~.———-_.‘.~—’—AM.——--—-._—-—o-- ~_—_ ____- ______ . -.. _..— -. “... A. ... ..fi— ~.-—...—-14—..— ————-—-»-—.—. ...—....“ . -_-—— _- -54. Table 4 also gives the correlation coefficients between peer acceptance and social class. Although the results are not significant they are in a positive direction.with the relationship slightly higher for males. An examination of Table 6 reveals this tendency; for ex- ample, the largest percentage of any social class who received zero choices was in the males Of the lowest social class. Unfortunately, the number of subjects in the two upper social classes was small and the percentages there have little meaning. Although the findings are not significant they are in the direction found by Bjorngaard though. she did not compute correlations.1 Table 7 presents the results of peer acceptance according to honor roll attainment. Correlations were not possible between honor roll position and peer acCeptance but the frequencies do reveal a few .things. Of all the male students not on the honor roll, 16.4 per cent received zero votes compared with only 4.8 per cent of those on the honor roll. For females this cannot be said for the percentages (6.3 per cent and 7.0 per cent) are comparable. ”The-findings for the males agree with Jersild2 and Ryon and Davie3 that there is a relation- ship between peer scceptance and academic achievement. 1Bjorngaard, _p. pip” p. 148. 2Jersild, pp, pip., p. 259. 3Ryon and Davie, pp. pip., pp. 101-106. .monsmm mm mam modes on you mmmao NmNOOm co c3ocxc: OmNm momma -55-. o.ooN ea o.ooN NNN o.ooN NN o.ooN a o.ooN N ..Npe.m o.ooN as o.ooN NoN o.ooN NN o.ooN oN o.ooN N amez mN88 m N.oN sN «.mN em N.6N -.N . 6.NN N ..Nm56m m N.NN NN N.NN my o o n.NN N amez peace-c: o N. a o.~ H o o o o meamsom o>oom o o o o o o o a o .prz ppm NQN o N. N o o o o o o aeNpapm o o.N N N.N N o.oN N o o .mst cpN-NN c o o o o N.oN N o o ..Npapm o o o o o o.oN N o o .aNNz om-Ne o «.4 a o o o c o o aeNpamm N o.N N N.m N c o o o ..Nmz_ oe-NN a N.NN NN s.mN 6 o o NNNN N .6Nqsma N N.oN NN e.m N o o o.mN N .ust oN-NN. N «.mN mN N.NN NN . N.6N N N.eN N aeNpamm NN N.NN sN . N.o N. o.om N n.NN N .est oN-o NN N.Ne no G.NN oN. o.en N N.eN N aeNpamm , . SN o.Ne Ne p.oe NN o.oe a o.om a ..Nuz m -Nw N N.e o N.NN n . o o n.eN N ..Nuapm oN N.NN NN N.NN o o.oN N o o ..Nuz o N .oz N .62 N .oz N .oz N .62 neNponNpo > mango >H mmmao HHH mmmNo HH mango H mmmao ounmuoooo< NmNuom NmNuom Nmuoom NmNuom HmNuom Noam if; 4 NNNNommNNu mesmNmmeem Home oN cheNooom mmmNu NmNOON comm cN mo~m5om tam mmfims mo cowusnfiuumwm--.m mfinmh “_HNN-‘g .- “-...- "...—...... “A. ...—...... ~ mwfl.“ .....N— «...-....h— --.-_-.__..~ ___.N. ._ -_ ...-_‘N... _ . ...—- h—M H.‘ p ~56- Table 7.--Distribution of males and females by honor roll according to peer acceptance categories Peer On Honor Roll Not on Honor Roll Acceptance Male Female Male Female Categories No. Z No. Z No. Z No. Z 0 2 4.8 5 7.0 34 16.4 12 6.3 1- 5 13 31.7 22 31.0 97 46.8 95 50.0 6-10 11 26.8 16 22.5 35 16.9 44 23.2 11-20 6 14.6 - 14 19.7 14 6.8 20 10.5 21-40 3 7.3 5 7.0- 1 .5 l .5 41-80 1 2.4 2 2.8 l .5 0 0.0 81-160“ \ 2 4.9 0 0.0 2 1.0 1 .5 161 and O 0.0 l 1.4 0 0.0 1 .5 above Unknown8 3 7.3 , 6 8.4 ' 23 11.1 16 8.4 Totals 41 100.0 71 100.0 ’ 207 100.0 190 100.0 8Data were unavailable also on three males and nine females regarding honor roll position as well as that listed in the table as unknown for peer acceptance. Personal Appearance The personal appearance of each subject was rated on the two occasions that the questionnaire was answered by five investigators, and the mean of these two observations used in the analysis. From the figures in Table 8 a few findings should be noted. Over half the females rated as high as possible on appropriateness, the implication being that generally girls are more appropriately dressed for school than boys. The figures also indicate that girls rated lower on hair appearance and becomingness. N.“ _ —- '-'— ___—____—_——N ...—cu... m ._-.——o «- -57- Table 8.--A comparison of the personal appearance mean rating for males and females 44 A —‘r fir v ~v— Rating Rating Rating Rating Rating of of of of of l 2 3 4 5 Item 2 Observed Z Z Z Z Z Appropriate Males - .2 2.4 31.1 35.7 24.3 ‘ Females 0.0 1.1 9.8 28.8 53.1 Harmony: Males 2.2 16.7 40.1 21:1 13 5 Females 1.5 8.7 37.8 28.9 15 8 Becoming Males 0.0 7.0 41.1 32.1 13.7 Females 1.8 11.9 34.1 27.6 11.5 Neatness Males .5 8.1 27.7 37.8 18.5 Females .6 5.8 23.9 40.4 21.0 Hair Males .4 9.8 25.8 33.9 23.9 Females 2.8 17.1 33.4 28.4 11.1 Make-Up Females 1.3 4.1 57.5 15.8 11.5 Mean for males 3.9 Mean for females 3.7 Standard deviation for males 1.1 Standard deviation for females 1.0 8Significant at the .01 level. The raw scores of personal appearance for boys and girls were not comparable since the range of possible scores was from five to thirty for girls and from five to twenty-five for boys. Therefore, the raw scores were arbitrarily reclassified into six groupings from one to six to allow a comparison of male and female scores. The mean of the coded score for boys was 3.9 with a standard deviation of 1.1 “__‘—~., -53- and the mean for girls was 3.7 with a standard deviation of 1.0. Calculating the difference between the means and employing a t-test, the result indicated a significant difference between the means. The implication is that the boys in this sample had a slightly better appearance than the girls and that this difference did not occur by chance alone. This result is contrary to that of Cannon, Staples, and Carlson's finding that at the high school level the personal appearance scores of the girls were significantly higher than those of the boys.1 These and the other differences mentioned may be true ones existing for this group of subjects or they may be due to the women raters' biases, such as being more critical of girls' appearance than of boys'. Correlations were figured between personal appearance and grade and personal appearance and social class, although no hypotheses were specified (see Table 9). The relationship between personal appearance and grade of the female subjects was significant, but not for the boys. Cannon, pp‘_l., did not report a similar relationship but they did Table 9.--Simple correlations between personal appearance and grade, and personal appearance and social class for males and females. Personal appearance of males .158 -.08 Personal appearance of females .12 ‘ .15a 8Significant at the .05 level. 1Cannon, Staples and Carlson, pp. cit., p. 712. -59, V indicate that there was an increase in mean personal appearance scare with increase in grade level which was much more noticeable for girls than for boys.1 Also significant was the cOrrelation between personal appearance and social class for the males, and the relationship for girls was in the same direction although not significant. Bjorngaard drew a similar conclusion that girls named as popular were also referred to as best dressed and generally Game from the upper social class. She suggested that in future research it might be hypothesized that a positive relationship existed between social class and girls referred to as best dressed.2 The present investigation found this relationship to be significant for males, but only in the expected direction for females. Best dressed as referred to in Bjorngaard's study is not the same as a good personal appearance objectively measured by outside raters. How- ever, best dressed does indicate that their peers assigned a good personal appearance to those girls. When the girls in Hendricks' study were rated on appearance as above average, below average, or average, she found that three-fourths of the predominantly lower social class reciprocal friendship groups were rated below average.3 Clothing Table 10 presents the mean score, range and standard deviation of eaCh aspect of clothing for both sexes. The potential range of \ V 11bid. 2Bjorngaard, pp..p£p., pp. 127, 148. 3Hendricks, pp. cit., p. 44. --‘__~—————w___.—v.__..__-___.____‘_‘_ ,____—...- .'-————~———\, W _ --___.- _-._ ...—_- -——- ——-————_..— _ . -—-—‘.___e -4...— “- -___-.—_-—.—_..- “-..—_— __—-—-.__.__._- -—- .....- . ...-...... -60- Table lO.--Mean score, range and standard deviation for each clothing aspect for males and females II Standard Clothing Mean Deviation Range Aspect Male Female Male Female Male Female Aesthetic 36.1 42.2(1)a 5.9 4.2 19-50 29-53 Management 32.4 38.6(3) 5.8 5.5 17-48 21-52 Comfort 31.8 35.6(6) 5.6 5.1 15-47 21-51 Social Approval 30.9 33.8(7) 6.1 5.8 11-49 17-47 Psychological Dependence 30.6 36.4(5) 6.7 6.1 15-46 15-52 Special - Attention 26.9 31.0(8) 6.8 6.2 13-46 14-48 Interest 25.0. -38;9(2) 7.5 6.6 11-49 19-54 8Numbers in parentheses indicate rank-order of female means. scores fOr each sapect was 11-55.' In all cases the means of the female scores were higher than the corresponding means for the male scores. The mean of the aesthetic aspect ranked highest for both boys and girls and rated a moderate amount above the next aspect. Females accorded second place to interest in clothing but males ranked it last. After considering the items in the interest categoy, the reason for this difference became more obvious. Since boys are not expected to read fashion magazines and experiment with clothes and hairdos this scale may present a cultural bias in favor of girls. ... .... _ .~_. __—__-_._.._ —-——- ....— .. .— ......— _— . _N...——.—. ...—... w- /-—-“ A‘- “.-.—_p— ...—“_p- —-—- -—--- —-—..—-—. w .H-v" —-——-.-o--——. ~—-—‘_‘——wa~«-‘-_ “-..-WA -61- Females assigned higher relative importance to modesty and psychologi- cal dependence than males but lower rankings to comfort and social approval. The findings of this study repeated those of other investiga- tors, such as Creekmore1 sand Lapitsky2 relative to the importance of aesthetic concern for appearance. The present investigation showed this emphasis to be true for both males and females. The economic sapect of clothing reported by several studies to be second in impor- tance was reflected in the management aspect which rated second for boys and third for girls. The coefficients for the simple correlatiods between each aspect of clothing and grade and social class were computed (see Table 11). The only signifiCant relationship found was Table ll.--Simple correlations between the clothing sapects and grade and social class for males and females m . . -»\ 'IGrade Social Class Clothing Aspect Male m _M_a_Le_ W Aesthetic .04 .09 .11 .01 Modesty -.06 -.01 -.13 .08 Interest -.11 .08 -.03 .01 Comfort . -.04 .10 -.08 -.02 Special Attention -.10 .03 .01 .06 Management K -.01 .01 -.01 .158 Social Approval -.08_ -.03 -.00 -.02 Psychological Dependence -.09 ‘ -.04 .08 .04 8Significant at .05 level. 1Creekmore, pp. eit., p. 65. 2Lapitsky, pp, cit., p. 47. “...—wwnw ...--—...__.v— ___- - H “-;k-- _.7 --- -52- a positive one between management and social class. The reason for this wap\not known and other investigators have not reported it, though it might be suggested that this relationship indicates more concern and respect for the care and management of clothing by girls of the upper social classes. Interestingly, the majority of the correlation coefficients relating clothing to grade and social class were in the negative direction for boys. This may indicate that the older the male adolescent and the higher in social class, the less attention is placed on clothing. Relation petween Peer Acceptance and Personal Appearance ,Peer acceptance was hypothesized to be positively relfited to personal appearance for girls. Such a relationship was not predicted for boys since there is little research on which to base an hypothesis of this nature. To test for the relationship zero order correlations were calculated between peer acceptance and personal appearance and first order partial correlations were figured between the variables while controlling for grade and thenfOI social class. As shown in Table 12, none of the correlation coefficients proved to be signifi- cant for the females although all were in the expected direction. Kittles found no relationship or a slightly negative one between the same variables; therefore, it would appear that the findings of the present research agreed with Kittles.1 However, the present findings 1Kittles, pp. pip., p. 48. . .w—auw ‘-—- _——-—- - - ._...-.-_--.—l 4. ...—p —- *-‘ ”...--.....”— -53- were considered to correspond, though not completely, with the results 1 of Bunderson and Cannon,‘_e__1_:._p_l_.2 who found a positive relationship between these variables for girls. The correlation coefficient for ‘ Table 12.--Simple and partial correlations between peer acceptance and personal appearance for males and females Personal Appearance Eliminating Eliminating the Effect the Effect of ‘ISimple of Grade Social Class Peer Acceptance of Males .15a .15a .13 'Peer Acceptance of Females .13 .12 ' .12 8Significant at .05 level. girls in the present study was almost significant and in the expected direction. One of the limitations previously mentioned, that of the women raters' possible bias in being more critical of girls, Could have influenced the results. For the boys in this sample there was a positive relationship between peer acceptance and personal appearance. However, when the effect of social class on this relationship was controlled the correlation lost its significance. The relationship between personal appearance and social class for males was significant (see Table 9) and between peer acceptance and social class was in a positive direction (see Table 4). These two correlations influenced 1Bunderson,pp. cit.. p. 35. 2Cannon, Staples and Carlson, _p. cit., p. 712. “~ --‘.. W--.—.M—-m ...—..- ..., _ ..- J. _- . ‘- .-‘.—- -—- -..—fin. < “...”- -'-Hn ...-..- ‘- ..-_ can-.....- a” -.——v.- -~u~—'——-‘o¢~—- ....— -64- the relationship between peer acceptance and personal appearance for males. Hence, with the influence of social class removed there was no significant relationship between personal appearance and peer acceptance for the males in this sample, whereas grade had no effect. These'findings are an interesting comparison with those of Cannon, _£_pi., Since they found only one significant correlation out of six groups of boys, but the remaining relationships were in the positive direction. Relationship between Peer Acceptance and Clothing The second main hypothesis concerned the relationship between peer acceptanCe and specific sapects of clothing. A positive correla- tion between peer acceptance and the clothing aspects of aesthetic concern and interbst were hypothesized. A relationship was also pre- dicted between peer acceptanceand the seeking of social approval and of special attention through clothing, although a direction was not specified. These hypotheses were based on intuition since no comparable research has related peer acteptance to the specific clothing aspects being investigated. Table 13 shows that there was a significant correlation between peer acceptance and aesthetic concern for clothing and interest in clothing although only for the females in this sample. When the effect of social class was eliminated, the significance in the correlation between interest in clothing and peer acceptance for the females was lost. This resulted from the relationship, even though not significant, between peer acceptance and social class. -... .. .... fit—vau -._.. ... ... —-. . .W —..——._.——...-.——- —--—- .—._— . w- -H.n.—.H- ‘—.. ...--..... - .» .- _ _ __f”. ...—..nn— ...- -... ~.—-—n—m- -—~— 9"- w. -65- Table l3.--Simple and partial correlations between peer acceptance and each aspect of clothing for males and females Peer Acceptance Eliminating Eliminating Clothing the Effect the Effect of Aspects Simple of Grade Social Class Male Female Male Female Male Female Aesthetic .09 .15a .06 .15a ' .06 .14a Modesty .02 .08 .02 .08 .04 .07 Interest .05 .14a 5 .05 .14a .05 .13 Comfort -.12 .06 -.12 .07 -.ll .06 Special Attention .12 ' .07 .11 .07 .11 _ .06 Management .03 .13 .03 .12 .03 .11 SOC181 Apprdval -007 “006 “007 -006 -007 -005 Psychological .00 7 .04 _ .00 .03 .00 .03 Dependence. 8Significant at .05 level. The predicted relationships between peer acceptance and the use of clothing for social approval and also for special attention was not supported by the data. Individuals who are highly accepted may not look to their clothes for obtaining social approval or special atten- tion although they do not completely ignore these aspects of clothing behavior. Toomire's study gives support for this proposition since she found no statistical support for her hypothesis that social acceptance was the prime consideration in the selettion of clothing by adolescent girls.1 1Toomire, pp. cit., p. 55. . ..., .. .... _-_._.—.... ———. -..—N.‘ ...... ...—......— I“... _.m_ -..—... _ .._-_ A _N..- 4.__~._.-_._ _._~ .~.__ ...-7... ..- ...--.., -. \ -____. .- -._—_ —__-_. «*w—‘n ...—... - ——_. s'—_ —‘—---—-— -.. -66- Relationship between Personal Appearance and Clothing Specific relationships were proposed to exist between personal 'appearance and particular clothing aspects. Positive relationships between personal appearance and the clothing aspects of aesthetic concern, inunest and social approval were hypothesized. It was also predicted that there would be no relationship between personal appear- ance and the other clothing aspects. These hypotheses also were "hunch" propositions since there are no other studies relating personal appéar- ance to clothing aspects. Personal appearance was positively related at the .05 level of significance to aesthetic concern for clothing for both males and females and the relationship was still significant with the influence of grade and social class removed (see Table 14). This was the only result found to be significant for both boys and girls. A significant correlation was also found between interest in clothing and personal appearance, however, significance was only for the girls. The explanation for a lack of relationship between these variables for boys lies in the fact that boys ranked interest in cloth- ing last while girls ranked it second. The hypothesized relationship between personal appearance and the use of clothing for social approval was not supported by the data. Seemingly, a good personal appearance as rated by adults is not associated with a considerable degree of concern with social approval through the medium of clothes. ..-__ .— “‘5.- H.- .e“ _‘.. —4~_ - - -—v¢- ...... ....--fl- ——-g~ “_ / _ »—~‘_—-.———-“- " -67- Table 14.--Simple and partial correlations between personal appearance and each aspect of clothing for males and females Personal Appearance Eliminating Eliminating Clothing.‘ the Effect the Effect of Aspects Simple of Grade Social Class 'Male Female Male Female Male Female Aesthetic '.15a .16a .15a '158 .143 .168 Modesty .178 ill .178 .11 .15a .11 Interest .02 .22b .01 .21b .02 .22b Comfort .01 .06 .01 .06 .00 .06 Special Attention -.02 .20b -.02 .19b -.02 .19b Management ..04 .12 .04 .12 .04 .10 Social Approval .02 ' .09 .02 .09 .02 .09 Psychological .00 .05 .00 .00 .00 .00 Dependence - ‘ ' V 8Significant at .05 level. bSignificant at .01 level. Although no other relationships were predicted between the other clothing aspects and personal appearance, two others were revealed. A positive correlation was found to exist betwétn personal appearance and the use of clothing for special attention for the female subjects. It seems as if many individuals who have a good personal appearance use their clothing to gain special attention. To some extent, this aspect Of clothing is the antithesis of social approval and a positive relationship to personal appearance for both aspects would seem unlikely. _—_-_..—....> ..-~- .5-..“ --h- ecu-.- c.4— . - - < -68- An interesting positive correlation fotrboys was discovered between personal appearance and the importance of modesty in clothing. For future studies it might be hypothesized that there will be a relationship for boys between personal appearance and the use of inconspicuous clothing which is conservative in fit, design, color and body exposure. The findings supported the majority of the hypotheses for females although not for boys, which gives some research support for the idea that adolescent girls attach more importance to clothing than boys. - _—_———-—_— .-.... --.-.-.--. cunts VI summr AND CONCLUSIONS Many theories, such as the modesty, protection and adornment ones, have been formulated to explain the reasons clothing is worn. These motivés for wearing clothing seem inadequate, however current socio-psychological theories are being used now to help in the explan- ations. Whatever the motive underlying the origindl impetus to clothe the body, few today are unconscious of the influence of their appear- ance upon others. Most people realize that a pleasing appearance contributes to receiving favorable acceptance, particularly on a first contact basis. To the typical adolescent, being accepted by his peers is of great concern and externals such as clothing are usually considered very important in describing acceptance. The clothes worn by a person - influence others, and at the same time contribute to a sense of well being. : A survey of the literature related to clothing revealed that physical.factors as beauty, comfort, cost and neatness; social factors dealing with.conformity and status; and factors centering on self- expression and symbolic meaning were considerations in determining clothing selection and use. The importance of various aspects of clothing varies with the age of the individual and may be associated with particular behavioral patterns. Little research has been done -69- -v --..— —.——-— *~. M" A; --—- -70- concerning the relationship between aspects of clothing and general human behavior. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between an adolescent's acceptance by his peers, specific ' aspects of clothing and objectively rated personal appearance. This investigation is a portion of a larger project exploring the relation- ship of clothing to the self-concept of adolescents. A questionnaire consisting of the clothing measure and back- ground information was administered to 251 males and 270 females in grades ten, eleven and twelve in a midwestern high school. The uniqueness of the larger project was the refinement of a clothing instrument which.measured various facets of clothing attitudes and behaviors including different levels of intensity. After exten- sive discussion, a list.of eight aspects was formulated: the use of clothing to gain social approval or to seek special attention, comfort in clothing, interest and experimentation with clothing, management of clothing, modesty in clothing, psychological dependence on clothing, and an aesthetic concern for clothing. There were elven statements for each aspect of clothing which were rated on a scale from one to five. Each subject had eight different clothing scores which were analyzed separately relative to peer acceptance and personal appearance. The personal appearance of the subjects was observed and rated on the criteria of appropriateness, harmony, becomingness, neatness, hair, and make-up (for girls only) on the two occasions when the questionnaire was being completed.: The peer acceptance measure was a "quasi" sociometric technique which was given to the entire school. For this study the number of *w -——_—_ —__-_———_—-—— 14h. ...—.e_¥e fl-.- ..-- -_____-_-.u-.....e.._.__—W “_“me ‘H--/q—— . - ,—.. i._-——-- ...—— _- - 4 times each subject was cited by others was tallied and became the raw score.‘ Students named their choices to four questions employed to measure acceptance covering popularity, friendship, leadership and work companions. Pearson r-product-moment correlation coefficients were the major statistical method employed to examine the data. Partial correl- ations to nullify the effects of social class and grade were also computed. To further describe the data, means, standard deviations, ranges, frequencies and the difference between means (t—tests) were used. The data did not show a statistically significant relationship between peer acceptance and personal appearance for females in this sample as hypothesized,1 although the results were nearly to the Isignificant level. A relationship between peer acceptance and personal appearance was not hypothesized for males because of insufficient ‘previous research, but a significant relationship was discovered in. ‘this group of boys. The results were interpreted as being in closer agreement with the significant results of Bunderson2 and Cannon, g£_gl.3 than the findings of Kittles4 which showed a slightly negative relation- ship existing between these variables. However, Hypothesis I could not be confirmed! a significant positive relationship did not exist between peer acceptance and personal appearance for girls. 1§22£g, p. 31. 2Bunderson, 22, gig., p. 35. 3Cannon, Staples and Carlson, gp.‘gig., p. 712. 4Kittles, gp.‘gig., p. 48. _-_‘————.~— -.—_.—- -72- The second group of hypotheses predicted relationships between peer acceptance and several aspects of clothing and were based more on intuition than on previous research. No comparable research has .related peer acceptance or personal appearance to specific aspects of clothing. A positive relationship between peer acceptance and aesthetic concern for clothing was found to be signifiCant although for the female subjects only. Results were.in a positive direction for males. \ Hence Hypothesis II-A was partially confirmed: for the females there wasa positive relationship between peer acceptance and aesthetic con- cern for clothing. Peer acceptance was discovered to be significantly related to interest in clothing for the females only, although the results for the males were in a positive direction. The lack of relationship between peer acceptance and interest in clothing for males was probably due to the cultural bias inherent in the statements included in this . category, for example, experimenting with different clothing and hair- dos is not expected of boys. When the influence of social class on this relationship for females was removed, the correlation coefficient dropped and significance was lost. Hypothesis II-B was partially supported: peer acceptance was positively related to interest in clothing.for the females. A relationship between peer acceptance and the use of clothing for social approval by others was not disclosed by the results. There- fore, Hypothesis II-C was rejected: a relationship between peer acceptance and the use of clothing for social approval was not found. __ nvm—‘mmm— - w— ————~_b A--.__.___ _— . ’ “_- %-' _—_._—_ .....- . -73- Peer acceptance was not found to be significantly related to the “EE\°f clothing to gain special attention. Hypothesis II-D was rejected: \3 relationship between peer acceptance and the use of cloth- ing for special attention was not proven. The third major hypothesis concerned relationships between personal appearance and various clothing aspects. These were also "hunch" propositions. A positive relatiOnship between personal appearance and aesthe- tic concern for clothing was found to be significant for both males and . females. When the effects of grade and social class were nullified, the relationship was still statistically significant. Hypothesis III-A' was accepted: there was a positive relationship between personal appearance and aesthetic concern for clothing.for both males and females. Personal appearance and interest in clothing were found to be significantly related for the females in this sample only. A possflale explanation for the lack of a relationship for boys has been given. Hypothesis III-B was partially supported: a ppsitive relationship between personal appearance and interest in clothing was found for females. A positive correlation between personal appearance and social approval was not shown, although the results were in a positive direc- tion. A highly rated personal appearance does not appear to be associated with a great concern for the approval by others through clothes. Hypothesis III-C was not confirmed: there was no relationship between personal appearance and the use of clothing for social approval. ._,.__..r ...—......— ....“ -..-... ...-.1 _‘e _—-—_-—-—— -._—— “— m—"H -v- ...—.... ——-,-—.—e -¢-——.. w ._ .. 1-... ....AM -— .yte ~-.. .4 ._ - .74- All relationships between personal appearance and the remaining aspects of clothing were in a positive direction and two were signifi- cant. Hypothesis III-D was partially confirmed: there was no relationship between personal appearance tend the clothing aspects of psychological dependence, management, comfort, modesty (for girls), or the use of clothing for special attention (for boys). 0f the nine hypotheses, one was accepted for both males and females, three were-confirmed for females only, one was partially accepted and four were rejected. Although many hypotheses were not accepted.for both sexes, this study may be able to serve as a founda- ”tion for future research as no previous studies have related peer acceptance and personal appearance to sélected sapects of clathing. Several significant findings not predicted for this study are suggestions for hypotheses in future investigations. A positive correlation was discovered to exist between personal appearance and the use of clothing for special attention. This finding would seem to indicate that many people who have a good personal appearance are concerned with gaining prestige, status and specialattention through the use of their clothing. It may be hypothesized that a positive relationship exists for males between the importance of modesty in clothing and personal appear- ance as was found in this study. Modesty in clothing was defined as the use of inconspicuous clothing which is conservative in fit, design, color and body exposure. This study showed that the peer acceptance scores of girls were significantly higher than those of the boys and in future this _— fl H‘- ’— -75- might be predicted. Moore’s finding that girls tend toward a higher status placement supports these results even though status placement and peer acceptance are not synonymous.1 ‘Another hypothesis that may be proposed is that the personal appearance of girls is positively related to grade. This result was found to be significant in the present study and agrees with Cannon, _£‘_l. who reported an increase in personal appearance with increase in grade particularly for females.2 The finding that the personal appearance of boys was signifi- cantly related to social class might also be predicted in future studies. mBjorngaard's research on adolescent girls suggested that a positive relationship would exist between social class and girls named as best dressed which is the peer's assignment of good personal appearance.3 The present investigation found this relationship to be.significant .for males and in the expected direction for females. For the males in this sample there was a significant positive relationship between peer acceptance and personal appearance which lost its.significance when theinfluence of social class was removed. The last finding can be accounted for in the relationship between social class and personal appearance which was significant and between social class and peer acceptance which was in a positive direction. A positive relationship existed between the clothing aspect of mangement and social class for females. The implication is that girls 1Moore,_p. cit., p. 132. 2Cannon, Staples and Carlson, _p. cit., p. 712. 3Bjorngaard, gp.ugig., p. 148. -75- of the upper social classes have more concern for the care and management of their clothing. The general conclusions are: .(1) that a potential relationship existed for the adolescents between peer acceptance and personal appearance since the correlation coefficients for the males in this sample were significant and for the females they were almost signifi- cant; (2) that a relationship existed between peer acceptance and aesthetic concern for clothing and interest in clothing for females only; (3) that a clear relationship existed between personal appearance and adathetic concern for clothing, between personal appearance and interest and the use of clothing for special attention for females only; and between personal appearance and modesty for males. Recommendations Several general recommendations for future research studies emerged from.the current findings in addition to the.suggested hypotheses previously mentioned. Although data collection for the larger project have been completed, the first general recommendation concerns further analysis of the data. The original scope of this thesis included relating perceived peer self to peer acceptance, clothing and personal appear- ance but proved too much to manage. Another person might investigate these variables now. A closer analysis of peer acceptance in relation to self-concept and also to body image may be interesting. Peer acceptance and personal appearance could be examined with regard to -77- other background variables not used here, such as the number of siblings. Personal appearance could be studied not only in relation to peer self but to other variables of the larger project such as self-concept, body concern and student status. The data on clothing could be analyzed in more depth, for example using item-total correla- ltions and comparing the clothing aspects. Further refinement of the clothing measure is necessary also. A second general recommendation concerns the development of future studies. The clothing measure is the one special contribution of this project because it was a refinement from other measures and covers many aspects of clothing. Hopefully it will be used and tested on many populations and become the basis for a standardized clothing measure, which is sadly lacking. In addition, the investigation needs to be repeated on populations with various social class bases, Negro- white racial variables, different age levels and regional differences. Further work could be done on the peer acceptance method used, particu- larly comparing it to the more usual sociometric techniques. Since so many votes fell into the l-S and 6-10 categories, another study might wish to sub-divide these categories even further. A methodolggical recommendation concerning the personal appear- ance ratings could be made. It seems advisable to have a full view of the subjects in a standing position rather than in a sitting position. BIBLIOGRAPHY Aiken, Lewis R. 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"Physical Attractiveness and Repulsiveness," Journal of Experimental Psychology, IV (June 1921), 203-217. Proctor, Charles H. and Loomis, Charles P. "Analysis of Sociometric Data," Research Methods in Social Relations, Part II. Marie Jahoda, £5 31., editors. New York: Dryden Press, 1951. Rosencranz, Mary Lou. "Study of Interest in Clothing among Selected Groups of Married and Unmarried Young Women." Unpublished Master's thesis, Michigan State College, 1948. "Social and Psychological Approaches to Clothing Research," Journal of Home Economics, LVII (January 1965), 26-29. Ryan, Mary S. Psychological Effects of Clothing. Part I, II, III, and IV. Cornell Univseity Agricultural Station Bulletin 882, 898, 900 and 905, 1952-1954. ’ ' . Clothing: A Study in Human Behavior. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1966. Ryan, F. R. and Davie, J. 8. "Social Acceptance, Academic Achievement and Aptitudes among High School Students," Journal of Educa- tional Research, LII (158), 101-106. Selltiz, Claire, Jahoda, Marie, Deutsch, Morton and Cook, Stuart N. Research Methods in Social Relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1963. Semler, Ira. "Relationships among Several Measures of Pupil Adjustment," \\Journal of Educational Psychology, LI (1960), 60-64. Sharpe, Elizabeth. "Development of a Clothing Importance Scale," Unpublished Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 1963. 4% -—*.—.—______ -____._._ A... -33- Silverman, Sylvia. "Clothing and Appearance," The_Adolescent: A Book of Readings. Jerome Seidman, editors New York: Holt, \\ _Rinehart and Winston, 1953. Stout, D. R. and Latzke, A. "Values College Women Consider in Clothing Selection," Journal of Home Economics, L (June 1958), 43-44. Tindall, R. "Relationships among Indices of Social Adjustment," Journal of Educadonal and Psychological Measurements, XV (Summer 1955), 152-162. 'Toomire, Phyllis A. "Social Acceptance and its Relationship to Appear- ance and Selection of Clothing by Teen-age Girls," Uhpublished Master's thesis, Southern Illinois University, 1964. Turner, R. H. "Preoccupation with Competitiveness and Social Accep- tance among American and English College Student,? Sociometry, XXIII‘(1960), 307-325. 0.8., Bureau of the Census. Michigan General Socigifl'and Economic Characterisitics, 1960. Vener, Arthur M. "Stratification Aspects of Clothing Importance." Uhpublished Master's thesis, Michigan State University, 1953. Williams, Madelyn Claire. "Opinions on Clothing, Appearance and Social Acceptance as Factors in Group Cohesion of Ninth Grade Girls." Ihpublished Master's thesis, Michigan State University, 1963. Appendix A -84- I ' 1 . l h... -_‘— —~————-—- .M' - EXP‘LANATIW OF THE CLOTHING INSTRUMENT The following statements were used in the Importance of Clothing Measure although the arrangement as presented here is not exactly as given to the subjects. The differences include: 1. The Index of Discrimination results from the Likert Scaling Technique are given on the left. These are the results of the third pretest on 69 subjects. See page 41. An * indicates a negative statement for which the scoring was reversed in obtaining the score for each clothing aspect. An ** indicates a statement in which the wording was changed slightly after the third pretest in the effort ‘. of improving it. A # indicates a new or drastically changed statemect as a result of unsatisfactory results in the three pretests. The divisions showing each aspect of clothing were not given to the subjects. Comments in parentheses after some statements have been added for clarity. IMPORTANCE OF CLOTHING Read the following statements and rate each according to the scale given below. Place the number corresponding to your choice in front of each statement. The statements generélly refer to a school situation. 1. Scale: 5. Almost A1ways--very few exceptions 4. Usually--majority of the time 3. Sometimes .2. Seldom--not very often 1. Almost Never--very few exceptions The way I look in my clothes is important to me. (not analyzed) -85- - <—._ __ k—_- . . . Aesthetic .92 *2. When I am shopping I choose clothes that I like even if they do not look best on me. .74 3. It bothers me when my shirt tail keeps coming out. .43 4. I consider the fabric texture with the line of the garment when choosing my clothes. 1.00 5. I use clothing as a means of disguising physical prob- lems and imperfections through skillful use of color, line, and texture. .70 *6. I wear clothes which have buttons or snaps missing. .78 7.' I pay a lot of attention to pleasing color combinations. .78 8. I keep my shoes clean and neat. 1.35 **9. I carefully coordinate the accessories that I wear with each outfit. .21 *10. I wear the clothing fads that are popular in our school even though they may not be as becoming to me. 1.05 11. I spend more time than others coordinating the colors in my clothes. \ - . 1.13 12:\ I try to figure out why some people's clothes look better on them than others. (theoretical) ‘Modesty .56 13. Unlined sheer dresses or blouses reveal too much of the bOdYe .47 14. I select clothes that are conservative in style. .92 15. I feel uncomfortable when someone has forgotten to close their zipper. 1.65 16. The first time in the season that I go to a public beach or pool I feel exposed in my bathing suit. 1.18 17. I choose clothing withsmall prints, even though a larger design looks equally well on me. 1.56 18. I feel embarrassed when I see someone in too low cut a dress. 1‘ Pa .1. ~87- 5.A1mostflélways 4.Usua11y .3.Somet;mesf 2.8e1dog, 1.A1most Never .78 19. I select clothes which do not call attention to myself in any way. 1.17 20. I feel embarrassed when I see someone in clothes that are too tight. .26 21. I like dark or muted colors rather than bright ones for my clothes. 1.74 22. I hesitate to associate with those whose clothes seem ’ ~ to reveal too much of their body. 1.39 23. I wonder why some people wear clothes that are immodest. (theoretical) Interest - 1.02 24. My friends and I try each others' clothes to see how we look in them. 1.87 **25. I enjoy trying shoes of different styles and colors. 1.26 26. I study collections of accessories in the stores to see what I might combine attractively. 1.52 27. I try on some of the newest clothes each season to see how I look in the styles. 1.31. 28. I read magazines and newspapers to find out what is new in clothing. 2.78 29. It's fun to try on different garments and accessories to see how they look together. 1.69 **30. I experiment with new or different "hair dos" to see how I will look. 2.35 **31. I like to know what is new in clothing even if none of my friends care and I probably would not want to wear it anyway. 1.57 32. I try on clothes in shops just to see how I will look in them without really planning to buy. S.Almost Always 4.Usua11y 3.Sometimes 2.Séldom 1.A1most Never 1.44 **33. When I buy a new garment I try many different accessories before I wear it. . #34. I amcurious about why people wear the clothes they do. (theoretical) (new) M .92 35. The way my clothes feel to my body is important to me. .93 **36. There are certain textures in fabrics that I like and especially try to buy, for example, soft, fuzzy, sturdy, smooth.- .49 37. I am more sensitive to temperature changes than others and I have difficulty being comfortable in my clothes as a result. . ‘ ‘ 1.74 **38. I wear my pants or slacks with an easy fit even when tight ones are fashionable. .69 39. -I get rid of garments I like because they are not comfortable. .43 40. .I find it difficult to buy clothes suitable to the temperature. .68 '41. I would buy a very comfortable bathing suit even if it were not the current style. 1.30 42. “I avoid garments that bind the upper arm. .95 43. I am irritable if my clothes are uncomfortable. 1.39 44.. I am extremely sensitive to the texture of the fabrics in my clothing. 1.12 45. I wonder what makes some clothes more comfortable than others. (theoretical) 5.Almost Always 4.Usua11y>'3.Sometimes 2,Se1dom lgAlmost Never Special Attention ‘ 1.48 46. When new fashions appear on the market, I am one of the first to own them. .62 47. I have clothes that I don't wear because everyone else has them. ' 2.17 48. I like to be considered anroutstanding dresser by my friends. 1.46 49. I try to keep my wardrobe in line with the latest styles. 1.68 50. I go to nearby cities to shop for better fashions. 1.65 51. I try to buy clothes which.are very unusual. 1.20 52. I avoid wearing certain clothes because they do not make me feel distinctive. #53. ~I enjoy wearing very different clothing even though I attract attention. (two good questions combined) 1.09 54. I try to buy clothes with the best labels. .95 55. I wear different clothes to impress people. .70 56. I am interested in why some people choose to wear such unusual clothes. (theoretical) Management 1.36 57. I plan for and prepare clothes to wear several days in advance. ' .75 **58. I see that my out-of-season clothing is cleaned and stored. 1.57 **59. I look over the clothing in my wardrobe before each season so that I know what I have. .52 *60. I am enticed into buying garments I like without having anything to go with them. -59- 5.A1most Always 4.Usua11y "3.Sometimes 2,Seldom 1,A1most Never Special Attention ' 1.48 46. When new fashions appear on the market, I am one of the first to own them. ’ ~ .62 47." I have clothes that I don't wear because everyone else has them. ' 2.17 48. I like to be considered anioutstanding dresser by my friends. 1.46 49. I try to keep my wardrobe in line with the latest styles. 1.68 50. I go to nearby cities to shop for better fashions. 1.65 51. I try to buy clothes which are very unusual. 1.20 52. I avoid wearing certain clothes because they do not ‘ make me feel distinctive. #53. »I enjoy wearing very different clothing even though I attract attention. (two good questions combined) 1.09 54. I try to buy clothes with the best labels. .95 55. I wear different clothes to impress people. .70 56. I am interested in why some people choose to wear such unusual clothes. (theoretical) 5222852225 1.36 57. I plan for and prepare clothes to wear several days in advance. ' .75 **58. I see that my out-of-season clothing is cleaned and stored. 1.57 **59. I look over the clothing in my wardrobe before each season so that I know what I have. .52 *60. I am enticed into buying garments I like without having anything to go with them. .90. 5.A1most Always 4,Usgally .3.Sometimes 2,Seldom 1,A1most Never .1243 61. .67 62. .37 **63. 1.31 **64. 1.39. **65. 1.28 **66. I enjoy-trying to get the most for my money in clothing purchases. I wear a raincoat or carry an umbrella to protect my clothes in rainy weather. I have something to wear for any occasion that occurs. I have a long-term idea for purchasing more expensive items of clothing such as costs or suits. I carefully plan every purchase so that I know what I need when I get to a store. _I am more concerned about the care of my clothing than my friends are about theirs. I try to find out how I can save as much time, energy, and money as possible with my clothes. Sgcial Approval 1.42 **68. 1.53. 6d. 1.27 7o.' .71 **71. L60\\725 1.65 73. 1.38 **74. .J93 75. I check my friends about what they’are wearing to a gathering before I decide what to wear. I would rather miss something than wear clothes which are not really appropriate. I feel more a part of the group if I am dressed like my friends. I wear clothes that everyone is wearing even though they may not look as good on me. I am uncomfortable when my clothes are different from all others at a party. ‘ I try to dress like others in my group so that people will know we are friends. I get new clothes for a special occasion if the clothes I have are not the type my friends will be wearing. I have gone places and then wished after I got there that I had not gone because my clothes were not suitable. 1 -91~ .71 1.35 .29 \‘x. \ *7 6‘. 77. 78. 5.A1mostfiA1ways 4.Usgglly 3.Sometimes w2.Se1dom:l.A1most Never I wear ’What I like even though some of my friends do not approve. .When I buy a new article of clothing I try to buy something similar to what my friends are wearing. When someone comes to school dressed unsuitably, I try to figure out why he is dressed as he is. 1(theoretica1) Psychological Dependence. #79. #80. #81. #82. #83. #84. #85. #86. #87. #88. #89. Certain clothes make me feel more sure of myself. I decide on the clothes to wear according to the mood I'm in that day. Days when I feel low I wear my gayest clothes. I "dress up" to make an ordinary occasion seem more exciting. ’ I am aware of being more friendly and out-going when I wear particular clothes. I feel and act differently according to whether I am wearing my best school clothes or not. I buy clothing to boost my morale. I get bored with wearing the same kind of clothes all the time. I have more self-confidence when I wear my best school clothes. When things are not going well I like to wear brighter colors. I wonder why some clothes make me feel better than others. (theoretical) ' Appendix B -92- App endix. B -92- Appendix B -92- -92. STUDENT OPINION POLL During the course of the year your teachers are sometimes asked to designate certain students to work with you on committees or to represent your grade. We would like to give you a chhnce this year to indicate a preference should the occasion arise. You can help us by giving the names of your classmates whom you think are the best choices. 1. Give the names of three students in your grade whom you would like to represent your high school at a big national nesting. 2. If all the students in your grade were asked to help on a class project, which three students would you like to work with? ; 3. In your opinion who are the three most popular students in your grade? ' 4. Which students in your grade are your best friends? i 5. If your best friends are in another grade in this school, write their names below. 6. If your best friends are not in this school, check here. -93- 7. How many people are there in your group of friends? BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1. Age (at last birthday) y Grade Sex 2. How many living brOthers and sisters do you have? (Circle the correct number on each line, the 0 if none.) Brothers 0 l 2 3 4 More Sisters 0 l ‘2 3 4 More 3. Who is the gg$n_wage earner where you live? father stepfather mother other (specify) For example: ."my uncle," "gaardian" 4. Draw a circle around the one number representing the highest grade the main wage earner completed in school. Note: the main wage earner is the person checked in question number 3. Grade School . l 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 High School 9 10 11 12 College or University 1 2 3 4 Graduate School ‘ . 1 or more years Ifsthe .ma.in.’:wage1earner is a college graduate, what is the highest degree he holds? 5. What kind of work does the main wage earner do? Please describe his or her work as specifically as you can; we need to know the type of work done but not the name of the company or business. FOR EXAMPLE; sawyer in a lumber mill, teacher in a high school, chemical engineer in chemical plant, salesman for a book company, waitress, operates farm of 160 acres, retired college professor, unemployed. 7. 10. 11. -94- Which of the following statements best describes the working situation of the person you named main wage earner? (Check the one which applies to your situation.) Please\ Works for someone; does not manage the business (or farm) Works for someone; does manage the business or a main part or section of it Owns a business (or farm) but hires someone else to manage it Owns and manages his or her own business (or farm) Retired I estimate the yearly income which the main wage earner receives. less than $5,999 _____ $10,000 - $24,999 $6,000 - $9,999 over $25,000 Does any other person or source contribute to the financial support of your family? Yes No If yes, explain who (Mother, brother, social security, pension, etc.) What is the type of work done by this person? Please estimate the income which this person or source contributes. less than $5,999 $10,000 ' $241999 $6,000 - $9,999 over $25,000 _—___—___.—__..____-__ . PERSONAL-APPEARANCE RATING SHEET Observer Datev r— Time Subject * Number - W ==—fi Appropriate Harmony Becoming Neatness Hair Make-up Total Score Subject Number_fifl Appropriate Harmony Becoming Neatness Hair Make-up Total Score “7'111'11’17'1'711171'11 iii