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College Students' Attitudes Toward Abortion: The Role of Knowledge and Demographic Variables 1
Author(s) -
Esposito Christianne L.,
Basow Susan A.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.1559-1816.1995.tb01828.x
Subject(s) - abortion , religiosity , psychology , test (biology) , social psychology , pregnancy , paleontology , genetics , biology
The present study sought to determine the role that knowledge of abortion information and various demographic variables play in discriminating between those who approve and those who disapprove of abortion. Four hundred and fifty‐four college students completed the Abortion Knowledge Test, constructed by the researchers, as well as an abortion attitudes questionnaire which asked subjects to indicate their degree of approval or disapproval of abortion in the case of 7 different scenarios. Attitudes toward abortion were significantly predicted by knowledge of abortion‐related information above and beyond the significant influence of degree of religiosity, religion, and age. No significant gender differences were found. Respondents who indicated approval of abortion scored significantly higher on the Abortion Knowledge Test and tended to be older, less religious, and non‐Catholic compared to those who disapproved of abortion.