The enhancement of an individual's support system as a function of group participation, psychological needs, and level of dogmatism

Abstract

Fifty-five subjects were selected from graduate and undergraduate students enrolled in educational psychology classes at Texas A&M University. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of encounter groups on the inclusion of members into mutual support systems. The study further assessed the relationship of such inclusion to the level of dogmatism and to six selected relative psychological needs of the group leaders and group members. Data were gathered with the following instruments: a Support System People form, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, the Rokeach Dogmatism Scale. All subjects and group leaders were asked to complete the three assessment devices before and after the 14-week treatment phase. For the treatment phase, 37 subjects were divided into six encounter groups while 8 subjects served as a control group. The results of a one-way analysis of variance showed that encounter group participation provided members with support while control group membership did not. However, the only group which differed significantly from the control group was composed entirely of women. This finding suggests that homogeneity of sex is influential on mutual support. Group-member inclusion was found to be negatively correlated with the group leader's relative needs for Deference, Affiliation, and Nurturance but positively correlated with the leader's relative need for Change.