Band 1, Heft 2

Davis studied the effectiveness of a rape prevention program designed specifically for college fraternity men. In his study, participants from several fraternities were randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups or a control group. He looked at attitude-oriented outcomes, as well as knowledge and behavior-related assessments. In addition to post-test measures, he conducted six-week follow-up posttest. The specific intervention under study was developed using a socialization approach. That is, he developed a workshop that focused on understanding how social learning affects attitudes, knowledge, and behavior regarding date rape. Participants in the workshop examined sex role learning through the use of excerpts from popular television sit-coms (e.g.,Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier). One of the major findings of this study was that a socialization-focused treatment was just as effectiveness as 'traditional' rape education programs in reducing rape-supportive attitudes and knowledge. Dr. Davis was interviewed about this study.

Jones and Watt studied the relationship between psychosocial development and moral voice among first-year students. Specifically they were interested in examining the effect of moral voice on development, hypothesizing that former would significantly affect psychosocial development and task achievement. The study was conducted using the Student Developmental Task Life & Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA), and the Measure of Moral Orientation (MMO). Their results indicated that students who describe themselves as more "justice oriented" scored higher on certain tasks on the SDTLA (career planning, lifestyle planning, peer relationships, salubrious lifestyle, instrumental autonomy, interdependence, emotional autonomy and academic autonomy). In addition, women in the study scored higher than men did on the tolerance scale of the SDTLA. There were no significant gender differences on care or justice scores. What might this mean? While these findings are strictly preliminary, they might indicate that first-year students who describe themselves with a high-justice orientation might be more likely to develop psychosocially – at least in ways measurable by the SDTLA. Professionals who work with students are encouraged to help them facilitate both moral voices – care and justice – in order to balance their commitments to people with their commitments to principles. Results of the study are published in the March/April 1999 issue of the Journal of College Student Development. Dr. Jones was interviewed about this study.