Open AccessADOLESCENT BEHAVIOR AND INTERESTS
Author(s) -
Maier Milton H.,
Anderson Scarvia B.
Publication year - 1964
Publication title -
ets research bulletin series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2333-8504
pISSN - 0424-6144
DOI - 10.1002/j.2333-8504.1964.tb00690.x
Subject(s) - psychology , socioeconomic status , aptitude , reading (process) , cognition , developmental psychology , sample (material) , social psychology , demography , population , chemistry , chromatography , neuroscience , sociology , political science , law
The Background and Experience Questionnaire (BEQ) was developed to measure orientations of high school students toward either the adolescent or the adult culture. Both the type of behavior (TV viewing, reading, and activities) and the level of probable cognitive demands (high, medium, and low) were included in deriving the scores to measure orientations. Scores were also obtained to measure school interests, plans for the future, amount of study, part‐time work, home background, and certain topics of thoughts and conversations. The BEQ was administered to a nationwide sample of high school seniors. Subsamples of 260 boys and 210 girls were used for a preliminary analysis, and the results in this report are based on these sub‐samples. The high‐level scores were positively correlated with measures of academic aptitude, socioeconomic status, interest in academic school courses, and level of plans for the future. The low‐level scores were either inversely related to or uncorrelated with these measures. The values of the correlations of the medium‐level scores were in between those of the high‐ and low‐level scores. The scores from the same level of probable cognitive demands had positive intercorrelations, whereas the high‐ and low‐level scores had either negative or near zero correlations. Predictions about the relationships between experiences outside of the classroom and measures of intellectual development are derived from an interactionist point of view of cognitive growth. The potential of the BEQ as an educational counseling tool is discussed.