Researched By: Katie Valder SOC 201/ CJS 201/ PSC 202 Taught By: Dr. Ridzi

My study asks is the myth true that as you age, your social views become more conservative? Something along the lines of “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” I felt that researching this would be important because today’s young adults are soon going to be stepping into leadership roles, if they haven’t already, and this study will help predict the general trend in leadership action. Will our government head towards a more conservative or liberal policy agenda. My independent variable was age, and my dependent variables were perspectives on homosexual relations, legalization of marijuana use, is it better for a man to work and the woman to stay home, sex before marriage, are women not suited for politics, and birth control for teens years old. I controlled for sex. I found that all but one variable with the control was statistically significant at the.000 level. My research goes to show that my original hypothesis is correct and your social views do tend to change with age. I found that the older you get the more conservative your views will be.

I am expecting to find that as you get older, your views will in fact gradually become more conservative. From personal experience, and the general trend in political office, I think that the younger adults have more liberal views and opinions as opposed to the middle aged and senior citizens. From my literature reviews I have found that although this is the preconceived and widely held belief, that there is mixed findings on this topic. As far as legalization on marijuana, the general trend in all studies has clearly shown a more widespread acceptance, from 12% in 1969 to roughly 33.3% in This is evenly divided (Carroll, 2005, 1). One article clearly stated that young men and young women all hold the belief that the women should have careers right along beside the men.

In this increasing diverse world, you’re going to have a liberation of more radical ideas. More of today’s youth are choosing to go independent and not choosing between the Democratic and Republican party (Mitchell, 1993, 51-52). Another article noted that trend of “the oldest respondents to be more conservative and the youngest the most liberal,” (Danigelis and Cutler, 1991, 27). It is important to note that not all surveys are showing this. One survey conducted by Nicholas Danigelis and Stephen Cutler found that there were only slight discrepancies in the respondents answers, not enough to really come to a conclusive answer (Danigelis and Cutler, 1991, 27). That is why I wanted to research this topic and find out for myself what was really going on.

VariableWhy is it an appropriate indicator? How they were recoded AgeThis was my main point of research and I wanted to see what the general trend was =Young adult = Adult = Middle Age = Senior Citizen Homosexual Relations In a more conservative and traditional point of view, homosexuality would be considered wrong or “going against the norm.” 1 & 2 1= Always wrong 3 2= Sometimes wrong 4 3= Never wrong Legalization on marijuana A more conservative view would think that legalizing such a drug would be preposterous. Typically, they would tend to see it more as a drug then a medicine. 1 1= Should 2 2= Should not Better for man to work and the woman to stay at home? In the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s you have this very conservative view that the man should be the bread winner and the woman was better suited for the house. I wanted to see if this view held strong or did it change with the times. 1 & 2 1= Agree 3 & 4 2= Disagree Sex before marriage Most dating and marriage rituals were very structured during the senior citizens time. Again this will indicate if age brings about conservatism to today’s standards to see the contrasting differences between young adults opinions on this topic and senior citizens opinions. 1 & 2 1=Always wrong 3 2= Wrong sometimes 4 3= Not wrong at all Women not suited for politics I thought that this would be a good indicator because a conservative approach to this would be that politics is a man’s game and women have no place in it. 1 1= Agree 2 2= disagree View on birth control for teens This goes hand in hand with premarital sex. A more conservative view would be to say no to birth control at such a young age because they shouldn’t be having sex anyways. 1 & 2 1= Agree 3 & 4 2= Disagree

VariableWhy is it an appropriate indicator?How they were recoded AgeThis was my main point of research and I wanted to see what the general trend was =Young adult = Adult = Middle Age = Senior Citizen Homosexual Relations In a more conservative and traditional point of view, homosexuality would be considered wrong or “going against the norm.” 1 & 2 1= Always wrong 3 2= Sometimes wrong 4 3= Never wrong Legalization on marijuana A more conservative view would think that legalizing such a drug would be preposterous. Typically, they would tend to see it more as a drug then a medicine. 1 1= Should 2 2= Should not Better for man to work and the woman to stay at home? In the 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s you have this very conservative view that the man should be the bread winner and the woman was better suited for the house. I wanted to see if this view held strong or did it change with the times. 1 & 2 1= Agree 3 & 4 2= Disagree Sex before marriage Most dating and marriage rituals were very structured during the senior citizens time. Again this will indicate if age brings about conservatism to today’s standards to see the contrasting differences between young adults opinions on this topic and senior citizens opinions. 1 &2 1=Always wrong 3 2= Wrong sometimes 4 3= Not wrong at all Women not suited for politics I thought that this would be a good indicator because a conservative approach to this would be that politics is a man’s game and women have no place in it. 1 1= Agree 2 2= disagree View on birth control for teens This goes hand in hand with premarital sex. A more conservative view would be to say no to birth control at such a young age because they shouldn’t be having sex anyways. 1 & 2 1= Agree 3 & 4 2= Disagree

IV: Age of Respondents DV6: Teens between years old should have access to birth control (pillok2) DV5: Women are not suited for politics (fepol2) DV4: Is it better for everyone if the man is the main achiever in the household and the women stays home and takes care of the house and the kids? (fefam2) DV3: Is having sex with someone not yet your marriage partner wrong? (premarsx2) DV2: Should marijuana be legalized (grass2) DV1: Homosexual Relations ( homosex2) CV: AGE

Frequency of the Ages (IV) This was helpful to show the exact dynamic of the sample we are working with and to make sure it is a fair and non-bias sample

Distribution of the Ages

Sexual relations between two adults of the same sex? Notice the huge discrepancy… This clearly shows that young adults are defiantly more approving then senior citizens or homosexual relations.

Both males and females have significance at the.01 level. We find women a bit more distinct in their opinions.

Legalize marijuana? DECREASES INCREASES

The variables are significant at the.01 level and once again goes to prove that age does affect your conservative views.

Sex between a man and a women before marriage? 30.5% Discrepancy! The vast MAJORITY of senior citizens condone sex before marriage while almost HALF of young adults find NOTHING wrong with it!!!

Males and females tended to respond the same exact way. The percentages tended to match up. Both are more likely to say it is wrong when they are older.

Is it better for the man to be the achiever in the household and the woman to stay home and take care of the house and the family? 44.4% Discrepancy Clearly more senior citizens think that the man ought to be the breadwinner and the wife ought to be the housewife.

This graph shows that there is notable increase in the older respondents as far as whether women are more qualified in office.

There is no clear distinction between the men’s responses where as women, you can see a clear increase in the older female respondents saying that women are not suitable in politics!

Should methods of birth control should be made available to teens between the ages of years?

Independent Variable Statistically Significant?What level? Homosex2Yes For both males and females M:.01 F:.01 Grass2Yes For both males and females M:.01 F:.01 Premarsx2Yes For both males and females M:.01 F:.01 Fefam2Yes For both males and females M:.01 F:.01 Fepol2Yes Only for females M:.532 F:.01 Pillok2Yes For both males and females M:.01 F:.01

What does this mean? Your age does affect your social views. The trend goes to show that as you age, your views become more conservative!

Bibliography Carroll, Joseph “Who Supports Marijuana Legalization?” Gallup Poll, November 1, pp Danigelis, Nicholas L. and Stephen J. Cutler "Cohort Trends in Attitudes About Law and Order: Who's Leading the Conservative Wave?" The Public Opinion Quarterly 55: Mitchell, Susan "How to Talk to Young Adults.“ American Demographics 15: IMAGES credited to: