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THE PANTHER
17
A Study of the Stated
Wishes of Adolescents
By Jesse A. Gibson, Senior
No appreciable differences between
the interests of adolescent girls and
those of boys were found. Both are
interested in sports, radio programs,
their relationships with the family,
choosing a vocation, school activities,
each other, a philosophy of life con
cerning the future, adventure and
amusement. Among these interests
adventure ranks highest. This study
indicated that the interest in personal
adornment was that exclusively of
girls. The chief underlying attitude
of this interest appears to be that of
being accepted by the group, ft is
judged that there is similarity be
tween the sexes in the attitudes under
lying interests in family relationships.
The attitudes of boys and girls are
directed toward self-assertion and
home emancipation, ft is obvious
that adolescent boys and girls are
interested in each other.
These findings point directly to the
hypothesis as previously stated: that
the adolescent boy and girl have
many varied interests of which many
are brought over from childhood and
all of which may be influenced by
the environment.
It is the opinion of the writer that
an environment which is conducive
to the development of a variety of
interests, has a positive influence on
the development of the adolescent.
Such interests may be enlisted in
helping to promote sound mental
health and a worthwhile life.
This is an abstract of a student
project in the course “Adolescent
Psychology,” taught by Mr. W. S.
Bolden.
Seniors to Receive Degrees
(Continued from page 4)
Ala.; John B. Mabry, Atlanta; Loren
zo Manns, Chicago; Alvin L. Petty,
Savananh; Astaniel Poythress, La-
Grange, Ga.; James Roberts, Nash
ville, Tenn.; Samuel Stephens, At
lanta; Rushton P. Tiller, Florence,
S. C.; James Turner, Atlanta, Ruth
Woodard, Forsyth, Ga.
The project presented here was
undertaken by the writer as a part of
the course “Adolescent Psychology”
at Clark College during the second
semester, 1950. The chosen project
was to have adolescents write a paper
on the subject: “What I Would Wish
For If I Had Three Wishes.” From
these papers was expected an answer
to the following question: Are there
any differences between adolescents
of the various socio-economic groups
in respect to their stated wishes or
do adolescents in general have the
same or similar wishes irrespective of
their socio-ecoonmic status?
Several authorities in the field of
psychology and social psychology
have made studies bearing on this
question. Prominent among such
authorities is Allison Davis. Some
of his works that are relative to this
study may be found in READINGS
IN SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY by Hart-
ly, Newcomb, and others. In this book
Allison Davis says: “The social real
ity of individuals differs in the most
fundamental respects according to
their status and culture. The indi
viduals of different class cultures are
reacting to different situations. If
they are realistic in their resposes to
these situations, their drives and goals
will be different . . . His social reality
and, therefore, all his social drives,
goals, and their values are determined
by his culture.”
It must be understood that this
study is restricted to a group of 110
Negro adolescents, boys and girls
with ages ranging from 13 to 18
who were attending an Atlanta public
high school during the time of the
study.
PROCEDURE
An instructor at an Atlanta public
high school agreed to have students
in his various classes write papers on
the subject “What I Would Wish
For If I Had Three Wishes.” One
hundred and ten papers were collected
and classified roughly in three socio
economic groups: better, middle, and
poor — according to the judgment of
the student’s teacher as to the status
of the family of the students writing
the paper. The students were never
aware of the purpose for which the
papers were being used . In the “bel
ter” group there were 30 papers; in
the “middle” group there were 45
papers, and in the “poor” group
there were 35 papers.
FINDINGS
The papers were studied in order
to note what broad categories could
be conveniently used to analyze the
wishes. It was discovered that the
wishes fell into six main groups:
(1) riches and luxury, including
three sub-divisions, home, car, and
money; (2) education; (3) welfare
of others; (4) travel, and (6) mis
cellaneous. The wishes categorized
as miscellaneous were of a general na
ture. For example, a student wished
for two lovely children, world peace
and health. The percentage of stu
dents in each group, (better, middle,
poor) whose wishes fell in the six
categories (riches and luxury, edu
cation, welfare of others, marriage
and family, travel, and miscellan
eous) was noted. These data are pre
sented in table 1. Many of the wishes
included more than one thing — often