Reaction to social pressure from adults versus peers among Soviet day school and boarding school pupils in the perspective of an American sample.

Abstract

Investigates reaction to social pressure among 5th grade Soviet school children brought up in boarding schools (N = 188) vs. day schools (N = 165). A comparison is also made with results previously obtained from an American sample. Consistent with the hypothesis, Ss raised primarily in a single socialization setting (the boarding school) differed from those exposed to a diversity of agents and contexts of upbringing (day school pupils) in subscribing to a greater extent to culturally approved values and showing greater conformity to social pressures in their immediate environment. Both Soviet samples were substantially less willing to engage in antisocial behavior than American age-mates. When told that their misconduct would become known to their classmates, Russian and American children reacted in opposite ways, the former being less ready to engage in adult-disapproved behavior, the latter more so. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)