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SOME FACTORS AFFECTING DOCILITY IN PRIMARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Author(s) -
PUNCH K. F.,
RENNIE LEONIE
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
british journal of educational psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.557
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 2044-8279
pISSN - 0007-0998
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8279.1978.tb02382.x
Subject(s) - psychology , social psychology
S ummary . The relationship between docility and age, sex, and the social structure of the school and the family is examined for a sample of 1184 children in primary schools of differing social structure. Two docility measures were developed, based on the notions of an uncritical accepting attitude towards the pronouncements of authority figures, a disposition to obey instructions without regard to their merit, and a tendency to condemn behaviour which is openly critical of authority figures. Correlation and regression analyses of the data show, firstly, that age is the most important variable affecting docility, correlating negatively with it; secondly, that social class is next in importance, also correlating negatively with docility; and thirdly, that there are additional small relationships between docility and sex, and between docility and school social structure. Taken together, the variables used here account for approximately 20 per cent of the variance between children in docility levels.