AGE AND AUTHORITY IN THE INTERVIEW

In: Public opinion quarterly: journal of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, Volume 25, Issue 1, p. 39-56

Abstract

A nationwide survey of adolescent girls conducted by the Survey Res Center of the U of Michigan included semi-projective questions involving conflicts between parental & authority demands vs peer demands. Among those who interviewed girls from 16 to 18 yrs old there were 26 interviewers from 24-40 yrs old; 47 from 41 to 52 yrs old; & 25 interviewers age 53 & up. Among girls from 16 to 18 yrs old, the oldest group of interviewers were least likely to receive answers flatly rejecting the authority demand, & the youngest interviewers were most likely to receive such 'unacceptable' responses. Among girls younger than age 16 however, there were no consistent diffs by age of interviewer. Interviewer effects were greatest among those girls presumably subject to strong cross-pressures & almost nonexistent among those for whom parental demands in all probability far outweighed peer demands. Interviewers' scores on the Guilford-Zimmerman Temperament Survey were available. Among a number of traits only ascendance & objectivity seemed to make a diff in this respect. Among interviewers under age 53, those low on both ascendance & objectivity tended to get more 'unacceptable' responses than those scoring high in both these traits. Interviewers age 53 & over appear to have been responded to as authority figures regardless of ascendance or objectivity score. AA.