A study of authority and peer relationships in a religious group

• Main Author: Lauron, Mary Paul
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1969
• Subjects: Nuns > Psychology; Interpersonal relations; Religion
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/153
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study examines the relationships in a community of sisters- relationships among individual sisters and between groups of sisters, and relationships with authority figures as well as with peers. This study used the descriptive-survey method of research. To obtain the data needed for this study the following research tools were used: personal information sheets, questionnaire, sociometric test, interviews, and observations. The sisters who served as subjects of the study were undergoing training for a particular religious order. In the measurement of attitudes statistical tests were used namely, The Mann-Whitney U Test and the Spearman rank correlation. To analyze the responses to the sociometric test, both the sociogram and the sociometric matrix were used. In this study, a strong indication of the existence of a negative correlation between socioeconomic status (SES) and attitudes towards obedience was observed. There was also an indication of a negative correlation between educational background and attitudes towards obedience. The subjects seemed to have a positive attitude towards their superiors. Towards officials, however, their attitude appeared to be ambivalent, if not actually negative. A high correlation was observed between SES and perceived acceptance. A negative relationship between chronological age and perceived acceptance by peers seemed to exist. The sociometric test did not reveal any cohesiveness with the canonical age groupings although this was generally expected if only because of the factor of propinquity.