Citation

Rice J, Reicher R. Aust. Psychol. 1993; 28(2): 74-79.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1993, Australian Psychological Society, Publisher Wiley-Blackwell)

DOI

10.1080/00050069308258879

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study investigated the extent to which parents and their children (in two age groups) agree about nuclear war issues. Three dimensions of agreement--actual agreement, perceived agreement, and accuracy of perception--were examined with respect to parents' knowledge of their children's views. Parents' and children's responses to 18 nuclear-issues questions were factor analysed, producing five orthogonal factors: nuclear denial, nuclear awareness, political efficacy, belief in deterrence, and nuclear anxiety. Younger children showed significantly greater nuclear awareness (or concern), lower levels of denial, and higher levels of anxiety than their parents. Teenagers showed more concern about nuclear war than their parents and denied the threat to a lesser degree. Contrary to expectation, parents were more anxious about the threat than their teenage children and showed greater denial despite a comparable level of awareness. Parents accurately perceived their teenage children's responses for nuclear anxiety and political efficacy and their younger children's responses for nuclear denial, but in general, parents' perceptions of their children's responses were erroneous. The implications of these findings for peace education programs in schools is discussed.