Jehovah's Witnesses' child-rearing advice and potential psychologists' bias.
This study examined agreement with and potential bias toward child-rearing advice provided in publications of Jehovah's Witnesses. A sample of 750 APA member psychologists with Ph.D.s were randomly selected and assigned to one of three groups: (1) those informed about the source of the child-rearing advice, (2) those partially informed about the source of the advice, and (3) those uninformed about the source of the advice. Each group was provided identical materials except for identifying information about the specific source. Analyses show that psychologists report high agreement with the child-rearing advice provided by Jehovah's Witnesses through their publications, primarily The Watchtower and Awake! magazines. In general, however, psychologists expressed lower agreement with advice pertaining to early dating, premarital sex, and sports participation. Significantly lower participation was found in the group who were fully informed about the source of the advice. Implications of these findings are discussed and directions for research given.
Oddoye
Robinette T
RT
Clinical & Research Institute, Inc., USA.
Oyewole
Philemon
P
D000328:Adult; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033221:Jehovah's Witnesses; D008297:Male; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011584:Psychology / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires