A STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN ECONOMIC KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS

This study examines the relationship between subjects' economic knowledge and their attitudes toward the American economic system, business and labor unions. Economic educators have often assumed that attitudes toward economic institutions and problems are a function of knowledge and that greater cognitive knowledge of economics will make students more sympathetic toward the American economic systems and its constituent institutions. In this study two models are examined in order to determine the relationships between certain demographic variables, economic knowledge and economic attitudes on the one hand and between demographic variables, economic learning, and attitude change on the other. The models have implications for further research into the development of social attitudes in general and economic attitudes in particular.;The models described in the study are tested by means of path analysis. Each of the two models assumes a specific causal ordering of variables, formulated on the basis of theory and knowledge. By comparing the expected paths in these hypothetical models with empirically obtained paths, the validity of the proposed models can be judged.;The results of the study confirm the relationships set fourth in the models. It does appear that knowledge of economics enhances high school students' appreciation of the American economic system and certain of the institutions within that system.;Findings of the study include: (1)students attitudes toward the American economic system, business, and unions are affected positively by the amount of economic knowledge they possess, (2)economic learning predicts positive changes in students' attitudes toward the American economic system, business, and labor unions, and (3)high school courses in economics are effective in increasing economic understanding.;Data to test the models were collected in 19 Hawaii public schools in the spring of 1979. The sample population consisted of 1,950 students in the 10th, 11th and 12th grades. Economic knowledge and learning were measured by students' scores on the Test of Economic Literacy, a nationally-normed test developed and published by the Joint Council on Economic Education. Students' attitudes were measured by attitude scales developed by the researcher. Other variables in the study included parents' education, parents' occupation, parents' union membership, media attention, academic achievement, sex, grade level, and whether or not students had taken a formal course in economics.