Development of an objective questionnaire to assess perception, concern, and knowledge of, and attention and response to, the threat of nuclear war
In addition to the subject objective, the relationship of specified personality variables (i.e., trait anxiety, locus of control, response tendency towards threat, and denial) to behavioral and psychological responses to the threat of nuclear war were assessed. The quantitative questionnaire, titled the Nuclear Reaction Scale, was composed of items selected from issues discussed in the psychological literature on the threat of nuclear war. These issues included: psychic numbing, cognitive reality, perceptions of likelihood and survival, nuclear illusions, and attention to the threat of nuclear war. A standardization sample of 360 college students was administered the Nuclear Reaction Scale, Trait Anxiety Scale, Internal-External Locus of Control Scale, Facilitation-Inhibition Scale, and Haan Denial Scale. Three additional subsamples, identified as Military, Nuclear Freeze, and Church, were given the Nuclear Reaction Scale to assess the validity of the scale. A factor analysis of the Nuclear Reaction Scale indicated a nine-factor solution that described issues such as concern perceptions, likelihood, survivability, and control over the threat of nuclear war. A number of strong relationships existed between computed factors on the Nuclear Reaction Scale. Demographic comparisons found significant differences related to sex and political affiliation.
- Research Organization:
- Kent State Univ., OH (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6350239
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Psychological responses to the threat of nuclear war
Nuclear education campaign: on how to eliminate the threat of nuclear war