Contemporary Lifestyles and Values of Students in Louisiana, USA and North Cyprus: A Cross Cultural Study

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This article was downloaded by: [65.48.113.25] On: 25 March 2014, At: 06:49 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

International Journal of Adolescence and Youth Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rady20

Contemporary Lifestyles and Values of Students in Louisiana, USA and North Cyprus: A Cross Cultural Study a

b

Eddie J. Girdner , Russell Eisenman & Nola Tracy

c

a

Department of International Relations , Eastern Mediterranean University , Famagusta, North Cyprus, Via., Mersin-10 , Turkey b

Department of Psychology , McNeese State University , Lake Charles , Louisiana , 70609-1895 , USA c

Department of Mathematics , McNeese State University , Lake Charles , Louisiana , 70609-2340 , USA Published online: 27 Mar 2012.

To cite this article: Eddie J. Girdner , Russell Eisenman & Nola Tracy (1996) Contemporary Lifestyles and Values of Students in Louisiana, USA and North Cyprus: A Cross Cultural Study, International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 6:3, 205-222 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02673843.1996.9747792

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International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 1996, Volume 6, pp. 205-222 0267-3843/96 $10 © 1996 A B Academic Publishers Printed in Great Britain

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Contemporary Lifestyles and Values of Students in Louisiana, USA and North Cyprus: A Cross Cultural Study Eddie J. Girdner/ Russell Eisenman2 and Nola Tracy3 1Department

of International Relations, Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, North Cyprus, Via. Mersin-10, Turkey. 2Department of Psychology, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana, 70609-1895, USA. 3Department of Mathematics, McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana, 70609-2340, USA.

ABSTRACT This article reports the results of a cross cultural survey of values and lifestyles

of Turkish and American college students. The sample consisted of 182 students from a university in North Cyprus and 101 students at a university in Louisiana. The students were asked to respond to a set of questions which indicated values and lifestyles in terms of the four dimensions of family values, materialism, postmaterialism, and idealism. The role of religion in politics has grown stronger in both the United States and Turkey in recent years. However, the United States can be said to be "postmodem," while Turkey is still a developing country. One might expect to find significant differences among the two groups of students. It was found that the Turkish students were more liberal in terms of family values and they also appeared to be more idealistic than the American students. However, in terms of materialism, it was not found that one group of students were more materialistic than the other. Both groups demonstrated tendencies to want nice clothes and possessions. In terms of postmaterialism, both groups of students demonstrated postmaterialist values, particularly on the dimension of caring about the environment. Our results may be influenced by cultural differences between the students. Also the Turkish students represent those from a mostly urban elite population, while the American students were from an area of the country with below average income. These factors need to be examined more closely in future research.

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INTRODUCTION

This study seeks to determine if there are significant differences between the lifestyles of students at a university in North Cyprus and a university in Louisiana, USA, in the four areas of family values, materialism, post-materialism, and idealism, as defined more specifically below. The students in North Cyprus were predominately from Turkey while the students in Louisiana were mostly from the local area. The United States, as a post-industrial society, differs considerably from nations that are still industrializing and modernizing nations. Turkey and North Cyprus are still modernizing nations. One would expect to find significantly different attitudes and behaviors related to these four dimensions of popular culture. BACKGROUND

In the 1990s, Turkish elites are struggling to maintain Turkey's position as the only secular democracy in the Islamic world, as the religious party, the Welfare Party, grows stronger. The founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kernel Ataturk, carried out sweeping reforms after the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. These included the abolition of the Caliph and other Ottoman ruling institutions, abolition of the Arabic alphabet, a civil legal code, Europeanization of dress, adoption of a modern constitution, and rights for women. The six principles of Kemalism include revolutionism, nationalism, secularism, republicanism, populism, and statism. In the 1950s, Turkey moved toward establishing a pluralist parliamentary democracy allied with the West. The attempt to move toward a modern democracy was interrupted by three periods of military rule, followed by the liberalist opening engineered by the late Prime Minister Turgut Ozal in the 1980s. Economic and political liberalization has proceeded, however, at the price of the strengthening of religious and nationalist groups on the Right, particularly, the Islamist Welfare (Refah Party) of Necmettin Erbakan. Rule by the center-right True Path Party of Prime Minister Tansu Ciller in the 1990s increased the wealth and influence of the urban elites, while the high inflation and erosion of the value of the Turkish Lira have hurt the interests of civil servants, teachers, and workers. In December 1995, the entry of Turkey into the European Customs Union on January 1, 1996,

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207 was approved in the European parliament. The pattern of development in Turkey has been uneven, with the countryside relatively neglected. The great disparity between the villages in the countryside and development in urban areas has resulted in massive urban migration in recent years along with sprawling shanty towns or gecekondus in the urban areas of Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir. Privatization of the State Economic Enterprises (SEEs) and economic liberalization under IMF austerity, has increased the gap between the urban business elites and those in the villages and gecekondus. Most of the Turkish students in this study are from urban backgrounds, from families in business or the military, in other words, from the elite class in Turkey. This can be seen from the significant numbers of students driving late model, expensive European cars. The current generation of students in Turkey has been referred to as "the Ozal Generation" (Girdner, 1994a). The image is one of urban, affluent, and materialistic youths who are economically secure and who see themselves going into business or the government and succeeding in a short time. But this modem sector in Turkey now seems to be overwhelmed by the traditional sectors who wish to return to the Islamic or traditional roots of Turkish culture. Indeed, this is a global trend to return to the cultural roots, which often means a strengthening of religion in the political arena (Balmer, 1993). This trend is seen not only in the Middle East and North America, but also across South and East Asia. One noted scholar has spoken of a "new civilizational war" (Huntington, 1993). In Turkey, as in many other countries, this trend seems to be, in part, a reaction to the increasing homogenization of society and culture brought about by a new liberal global economic order. At the same time, the economic austerity programs enforced by the IMF and the World Bank, continue to militate against the traditional sectors in many developing countries. This is an important fact in Turkey, where inflation in the mid 1990s has been running at between 75 and 150 percent per year. Similar tensions are observed in Egypt and other countries in North Africa (Kepel, 1995). The Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was created as a result of the attempt by the Greek military government in Athens to take over the entire island of Cyprus in 1974 and achieve enosis, that is, the union of Cyprus with Greece (Dodd, 1993). Turkish intervention, under the 1960 Treaty of Guarantee, prevented this. The northern 37 percent of the island was occupied by the Turkish military and became an enclave for Turkish Cypriots. An exchange of populations took place, some

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180,000 Greek Cypriots fleeing to the South and 60,000 Turkish Cypriots moving to the North. A separate government of Turkish Cypriots was established under Turkish Cypriot leader and President, Rauf Denktas. The Turkish Cypriots declared that they constituted the Turkish Federated State of Cyprus in 1975. In 1983, the Turkish Cypriots declared themselves independent on the principle of self-determination, and established the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) (Dodd, 1974). Only a few Greek Cypriots remain in the North, in the Karpas Peninsula. Turkey is the only state that has officially recognized the TRNC.It remains under a partial economic embargo, enforced by the United Nations, with links primarily to Turkey. As a result, Turkey supplies about one-third of the annual budget of the TRNC and all of the development aid (Dodd, 1994). The economy is based primarily on the three sectors of tourism, export of fruits and textiles, and the educational sector. In 1994, the European Court of Justice declared that the export of fruits to European Countries without the approval of the Greek Cypriot Government in the South was illegal. While this decision had a negative effect on the economy, the educational and tourist industries remain viable sectors of the economy. In late 1995, it was not certain how Turkey's entry into the European Customs Union, scheduled for January 1, 1996, would affect Turkey's established links with the Turkish North, and the economic and political lifeline of the isolated and politically unrecognized state. While the North does not have a flourishing economy, the general population is relatively well off by European standards. There are many ties with the Turkish Cypriot community in Great Britain, where some 80,000 Turkish Cypriots live. Generally, the political and social world view of the Turkish Cypriot students tends to be more liberal than that of students from Turkey (Girdner et al., 1995). Southern Louisiana is an area of relatively low income and noted to be one of the centers of hazardous waste industry and polluting industries in the United States. Consequently, it is one of the most polluted areas in terms of the environment. Being a relatively economically depressed area, has led to its being targeted by chemical and waste industries (Hofrichter, 1993; Bryant and Mohai, 1992; Bullard, 1993). The population in the region, however, tends to be more liberal in outlook than in the more rural areas of northern Louisiana.

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LIFESTYLES AND POPULAR CULTURE

Social scientists have noted a transition from materialism to postmaterialism in post-industrial societies (Inglehart, 1971, 1988, 1990; Miller and Levitin, 1976). Materialists are primarily concerned with getting ahead financially and engage in traditional and party-oriented politics. They tend to believe in the establishment, are more patriotic, and seldom engage in political protest against the political establishment. Postmaterialists are usually young well-educated people, articulate, and generally come from a middle class background. They tend to take their well-being for granted and are more concerned with postmaterialist values. These include lifestyle issues such as ecology, nuclear disarmament, and feminism. They are generally advocates of a new politics which may include challenges to the establishment, such as demonstrations, sit-ins, boycotts, and political strikes. As a rule, the more affluent a democracy, the higher the proportion of postmaterialists in the population. The US was in the first wave of postmaterialism in the 1970s and these values were especially strong in California. Education, rather than income, is the best single predictor of postmaterialism. Postmaterialism is less common in poorer democracies with lower levels of education, for example, in Spain, Portugal, and Greece. But even in the richest countries, such as the US, Great Britain, and Germany, postmaterialists remain a small minority of the total population. In the United States, postmaterialism was associated with the revolt against the bourgeois complacency of the middle class, especially in the establishment support of the Vietnam War. It was also a revolt against the Post World War II belief in the infallibility of America and American values of liberal middle class democracy in the world. Post-war prosperity in suburbia resulted in a new generation of middle class youth, the "baby boomers." The Vietnam War and environmental degradation seemed to be the immoral culmination of the American system of middle class affluence and consumerism. The social and political cultural revolution in the 1960s was centered around the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam War Protest, an explosion of "baby boomers" on American college campuses, and the youth culture of protest. Popular music often also expressed these values. Alternative cultural values, especially from the Far East, also had an influence. The

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210 experience and meaning to life and a holistic world view became more important for many than the Judeo-Christian and Calvinistic values, grounded in a Protestant work ethic, pragmatism, and materialist accumulation. Feminism, environmentalism, and opposition to nuclear weapons are more recent concerns of postmaterialism. Turkey and North Cyprus are poorer than Greece. The GDP per capita of Spain is about $13,600. In Portugal and Greece, it is about $7600. The GDP per capita of Turkey is only $2170. This is compared to $24,120 GDP per capita for Germany, $23,900 for France, $28,000 for Norway and $22,520 for the USA. We tried to understand lifestyles by using a matrix consisting of the four conceptual dimensions of family values, materialism, postmaterialism, and idealism. Family values include a strong belief in the traditional twoparent nuclear family, with children, as opposed to the singleparent family. It is generally believed that sex before marriage and adultery is morally wrong. Also child bearing outside marriage is seen to be morally wrong and is usually associated with a social stigma. Those with family values also tend to believe that the normal and most desirable life pattern for both men and women is marriage and children in the traditional home. It may or may not include the belief that men should work outside the home, while the women stay home. These beliefs are usually tied to biblical injunctions and are found most prominently among members and adherents of the evangelical subculture in America (Balmer, 1993). Materialism includes a strong work ethic and belief that one should work hard to get ahead financially and to have a better life. Materialism is typical of the prevailing ethos during rapid modernization and urbanization, when rural populations are migrating to urban areas to work in blue-collar jobs. These workers have little economic security and must work hard to succeed in their new surroundings. These values are also found among immigrant workers. A strong goal is saving and accumulation for financial security. The working class see middle class status as a worthy goal. Secondly, there is a strong belief in the established system and that one can get ahead if he or she works hard. There is usually a strong belief in patriotism. Political participation tends to be mediated through labor unions, party affiliation, and voting, rather than through protest. There is little leisure time for personal development. Unless they are constrained by religious beliefs, one would

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expect blue-collar workers to smoke more than average and also to drink alcohol. There is no great concern with adopting a lifestyle that improves one's health. A car may be seen as a status symbol rather than just a necessity. Clothes also tend to be important because materialists are status conscious and may be somewhat class conscious. They would like to dress better than they do if only they had more income. Materialists tend to be cynical about human nature. Postmaterialists tend to be concerned with values rather than a desire to accumulate more material wealth, and so are more idealistic. Individuals take their well-being for granted, as noted earher. They tend to believe that they can and should work to make the world a better place to live. Specific concerns of postmaterialists include the health of the environment, global equality, equal opportunity, and making the world fair for everyone, including women, blacks, other ethnic groups, and the populations of developing countries. There is a willingness to engage in the alternative politics of protest against the system to attempt to correct the ills of society. There is a general rejection of materialism and the traditional middle class values of accumulation and consumption. There may also be a concern with a healthy lifestyle and spiritual values which transcend the conventional Judea-Christian ethos and beliefs. Idealism is most typical of postmaterialists since they tend to turn their attention to making the world a better place. This is also related to a higher level of education. Postmaterialists may also believe that they have an ethical obligation to work toward idealistic ends and make some material sacrifices for others who are less fortunate. Generally, idealists believe in greater global equality and helping others. They may believe that it is possible to correct the most glaring ills of society, which the traditional middle class accepts as inevitable, or at least subject to reform only after a considerable period. Idealists tend to believe that life should be fair, that everyone should have an equal chance, and that progress on these goals is possible on a national and global scale. They are likely to attribute poverty more to the structures of society, such as institutionalized racism, which disadvantage certain groups, rather than to "laziness" or lack of individual initiative. They tend to have a faith in the redemption of human nature. Materialists, on the other hand, are more likely to attribute poverty, especially among ethnic groups different from their own, to individual behavior such as laziness. In contrast to postmaterialists, materialists believe they have succeeded by working hard and that others can do the same.

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As noted above, idealists tend to have a global vision, but believe in working hard to solve problems in the local level, while contributing their part to global change. "Think globally, act locally," has become a famous slogan of environmentalists. Their view tends also to transcend ethnic, nationalist, and cultural factors. Wars and other such ills are seen to be due to lack of vision, lack of education, and lack of understanding. Idealists believe that such ills can be progressively eradicated. This suggests a lingering belief in the values of the enlightenment, rationality and the nineteenth century view of progress. THE SURVEY

Methodology The sample consisted of 182 students at a university in North Cyprus and 101 students at a University in Louisiana, USA, enrolled in Political Science and Sociology classes. Questionnaires were handed out in classes during the Fall Semester, 1993, and returned the same day so that the response rate was 100 percent of those attending class that day. The mean age of the students in North Cyprus was 20 years while the mean age of the students in Louisiana was 22 years. The majority of students come from Turkey and the rest from North Cyprus, the Middle East, and South Asia. The students were administered a questionnaire related to lifestyles and values in classes in International Relations and Sociology. In this article, both Turkish and Turkish Cypriot students will be referred to as "Turkish students." We expected that the Turkish students would be more liberal in the area of family values than the American Students. We also expected that the Turkish students would be more materialistic than the Americans. On the third dimension of postmaterialism, we hesitated to hypothesize as to which group of students would demonstrate greater postmaterialist values. Finally, we expected that the Turkish students would be more idealistic than the students from Louisiana. These expectations are based on a previous similar study of student lifestyles (Girdner and Burroughs, unpublished). Results Our profile of lifestyles of students are made up of the four dimensions of family values, materialism, post-materialism, and

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idealism. We will look at each of these in turn. The results are summarized in Tables 1--4 along with the results of a similar study using data from a university in Alabama (Girdner and Burroughs, unpublished).

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Family Values The students were asked to respond to four questions: (1) Is it all right to have sex without marriage? (2) Is it all right to have children without marriage? (3) Will you get married? (4) If so, will your marriage be traditional? In response to the first question, 64 percent of the Louisiana students and 68 percent of the Turkish students said it was all right to have sex without marriage. But this difference was not significant. However, on the issue of having children without marriage, only 35 percent of the Louisiana students and 10 percent of the Turkish students thought it was all right to have children without marriage, which was a statistically significant difference (p < .00001). The Louisiana students seemed to believe more strongly in marriage, 94 percent saying they would marry, while 83 percent of the Turkish students said they would marry (p < .02). Finally, 89 percent of the Louisiana students said they would have a traditional marriage while 59 percent of the Turkish students said they would have a traditional marriage (p < .00001). Materialism The second series of questions give some indication of the day-today life style and activities of the respondents and to what extent they pursued "materialistic values." In this section there are ten questions: (1) Do you have a car? (2) If so, do you drive fast? TABLE I Family Values (percent of sample) Alabama Turkey Louisiana Turkey (a) Sex without marriage? Children without marriage? Will get married? Have traditional marriage?

(b)

40

64

64

15 53 63

8

35

68 10

44

94 89

59

25

83

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(3) Do you like to attract attention by spinning wheels? (4) Do you smoke cigarettes? (5) If yes, why do you smoke? (6) Do you like to drink alcohol? (7) Do you like to take drugs? (8) Do you care about having nice clothes? (9) Do you try to wear the latest fashions? {10) Do you spend a lot of money on clothes? As would be expected, having a car was much higher in Louisiana, with 84 percent of the students having a car, while only 28 percent of the Turkish students had a car (p < .00001). While 24 percent of the Louisiana students and 26 percent of the Turkish students said they drove fast, the difference was not significant. The third question which asked about a show-off driving style resulted in 6 percent of the Louisiana students indicating they like to spin wheels, while 37 percent of the Turkish students said they liked to attract attention by spinning wheels (p < .00001). Smoking is another important area, perhaps indicating a society which is in the upswing of modernization. By casual observation, the incidence of smoking is very high in the Middle East and the university campus in North Cyprus, and this was also indicated by our results. While 24 percent of the Louisiana students said they smoked, 47 percent of the Turkish students indicated they smoked (p < .0002). In addition to having a higher proportion of smokers, the amount of cigarettes smoked was much higher among the Turkish students who smoked. Among the Louisiana smokers, 44 percent smoked less than half a pack per day, while 17 percent of the Turkish smokers smoked less than half a pack per day. A majority, 58 percent, of the Turkish smokers said they smoked one or two packs per day, while 48 percent of the Louisiana smokers smoked one to two packs per day (p < .03). It is also interesting that in the United States, there seems to be differences in smoking based on race and sex. Of white students, 20 percent of male students indicated they smoked, while 29 percent of females said they smoked. However, this difference was not statistically significant. Among the black students, 36 percent of black males said they smoked, while only 6 percent of black females said they smoked, a significant difference (p < .04). We also asked the smokers why they smoked. Popular reasons among the Louisiana students were "addicted" {29 percent), "it tastes good" {25 percent), "it makes me feel good" {25 percent), and "habit (13 percent). Popular reasons among the Turkish students were "it makes me feel good" (54 percent), "it tastes good" {28 percent), "makes me cool" {19 percent), and "addicted" (13 percent).

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215 If the Turkish students smoked more than the Americans, the opposite was true of drinking. When asked if they liked to drink alcohol, 59 percent of the Louisiana students answered yes, while 41 percent of the Turkish students answered yes (p < .006). The use of drugs appeared to be very low among both groups of students, 5 percent of the Louisiana students answered yes to the question, while only 3 percent of the Turkish students said they liked to take drugs. This difference, however, was not statistically significant. The last three questions asked about interest in new styles and the purchase of new clothes. On this measure, 97 percent of the Louisiana and 87 percent of the Turkish students said they cared about having nice clothes (p < .008); 63 percent of the Louisiana students and 55 percent of the Turkish students said they try to wear the latest fashions (not statistically significant); 40 percent of the Louisiana students and 39 percent of the Turkish students said they spend a lot of money for clothes (not statistically significant). Post-Materialism The next set of questions explored the area of postmaterialist values. Among these are a concern for one's own health and physical exercise, concern for diet, healthiness and quality of foods consumed, and a concern about the environment. There were seven questions in this section: (1) Are you concerned about your health and physical condition? (2) Do you exercise regularly TABLE II Materialism (percent of sample) Alabama Own a car? Drive fast? Spin wheels? Smoke? Like to drink? Take drugs? Want nice clothes? Wear latest fashions? Spend a lot on clothes?

98 31 0 40 65 7.5 85 58 28

Turkey(a)

Louisiana

Turkey(b)

25 8 27 58 75 2.5 78 56 56

84 24 6 24 59 5 97 63 40

28 26 37 47 41 3 87 55 39

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for health? (3) Do you try to change your diet for better health? (4) If so, what changes do you make in your diet? (5) Do you sometimes walk for exercise when you could drive or ride? (6) Are you concerned about the environment? (7) If so, do you do anything to improve the environment? When asked if they were concerned about their health and physical condition, 93 percent of the Louisiana students and 86 percent of the Turkish students answered that they were concerned. This result, however was significant only at the .06 level. A larger proportion of the Louisiana students (63 percent) than the Turkish students (49 percent) indicated that they exercised regularly (p < .025). Also 67 percent of the Louisiana students said they tried to change their diet for better health, while this was true for only 55 percent of the Turkish students (p < .04). The Louisiana students said they tried to change their diet by "eating less fat" (78 percent), "eating less salt" (45 percent), "eating less sugar" (43 percent), "eating less meat" (33 percent), "buying health food products," (30 percent), and "using herbs and natural medicines" (18 percent). The Turkish students tried to change their diet by "eating less fat" (65 percent), "eating less sugar" (47 percent), "eating less salt" (35 percent), "eating less meat" (28 percent), "buying health food products" (25 percent), and "using herbs and natural medicines" (24 percent). Fewer Louisiana students (55 percent) than Turkish students (80 percent) walked for exercise. Roughly the same proportion of Louisiana students (89 percent) and Turkish students (88 percent) were concerned with the environment. The difference was not statistically significant. Also roughly similar proportions of Louisiana students (73 percent) and Turkish students (79 percent) indicated they did anything to improve the environment. Again, the difference was not significant. To improve the environment Louisiana students indicated they "try to recycle" (77 percent), "pick up and clean up trash" (74 percent), "try to waste less" (59 percent), "try to use less water" (41 percent), "try to walk more" (22 percent), and "ride a bicycle" {22 percent). Turkish students said they "try to waste less" (58 percent), "pick up and clean up trash" (44 percent), "try to recycle" (44 percent), "try to walk more" (37 percent), "try to use less water" (334 percent), and "ride a bicycle" (19 percent). Idealism The last set of questions sought to probe how idealistic the

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TABLE III Post-Materialism (percent of sample)

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Care about health? Exercise regularly? Try to change diet? Walk for exercise? Environmental care? Environmental action

Alabama

Turkey (a)

Louisiana

Turkey (b)

88 45

75 56

93 63

53

68

67

86 49 49

38

64

55

80

67

97

89 73

88 79

students were. There were five questions in this section: (1) Which do you care more about, your well being or the well being of society? (2) Which is more important, more money or possessions for yourself or greater equality in the world? (3) Would you give up some things to help poor people in your country? (4) Would you give up some things to help poor people in another country? (5) Should there be more equality in the world? Louisiana students indicated they were more concerned with the well being of themselves (86 percent), in relation to society, than Turkish students (51 percent) (p < .00001). For 40 percent of the Louisiana students money and possessions were more important than greater equality. For Turkish students, money and possessions were chosen over equality by 50 percent of the respondents. This latter difference was not statistically significant. Fewer students in Louisiana (86 percent) were willing to give up some things to help the poor in their own country, than Turkish students (95 percent willing) (p < .02). Also fewer Louisiana students (62 percent) were willing to give up some things to help the poor in another country, than Turkish students (74 percent willing) (p < .035). The Louisiana students (94 percent) and Turkish students (90 percent) agreed that there should be more equality in the world. DISCUSSION This study sought to determine if there are significant differences between students at universities in Louisiana, USA and North Cyprus on the four dimensions of family values, materialism, postmaterialism, and idealism. We expected that Turkish

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TABLE IV Idealism (percent of sample) Alabama

Turkey (a)

Louisiana

Turkey (b)

40 38 93 63 68

31 56 97 78 72

86 40 86 62 94

51 50 95 74 90

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Self/ Society? Money /Equality? Own country sacrifice? Other country sacrifice? More Equality?

students would be more liberal on family values, that Turkish students would be more materialistic than the American students, and that Turkish students would be more idealistic than the students in Louisiana. We made no prediction as to which groups of students would demonstrate the greatest degree of postmaterialist values. In terms of family values, as expected, Turkish students appeared to be more liberal than the Louisiana students on three of the four measures in the study. Turkish students approved sex without marriage by a slight margin (not significant), a smaller proportion of Turks said they would marry, and fewer Turkish students said they would have a traditional marriage. Only on the measure of having children outside of marriage were the Louisiana students more liberal. These results are similar to those of a previous study (Girdner and Burroughs, unpublished). The Turkish students in this study are predominately from urban elite families in Turkey. In addition to occupying a relatively elite socioeconomic status in Turkey, they have been thoroughly instilled with the Kemalist forward and westernlooking values of secularlism and modernism. While many of them value Turkish holidays and traditions, they tend to abhor the notion of being seen as "traditional" rather than modem. The struggle being waged in Turkey between the Islamist Party (Welfare Party) and the urban secular elites for political power, makes this a particularly sensitive issue in the mid 1990s. Therefore, it is not surprising that these students from a Third World country demonstrate more liberal values than students from a relatively conservative part of the United States. It is also interesting that students from a university in southern Alabama, a part of the country that is more conservative than southern Louisiana, demonstrate even less liberal values (Girdner and Burroughs, unpublished) (See Table I).

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On the second dimension, namely materialism, we see trends which seem to indicate more social and cultural differences rather than that one group of students is clearly more materialistically oriented than another. Our hypothesis that Turkish students are more materialistic than American students is not confirmed. Clearly, Turkish students smoke more than American students, but American students are more likely to drink. Neither group of students indicate that they engage heavily in the use of drugs and both groups indicate that they care about nice clothes, the latest fashions, and spend a good deal on clothes (See Table II). The percentage of students owning cars is not high among the Turkish students, but quite a number do have late-model expensive cars and demonstrate a show-off driving style that lacks maturity. This may be seen in the number of Turkish students admitting they like to spin their wheels. Clearly also, a high proportion of Turkish students smoke. This is likely related to the cultural factor that a very large proportion of the population of Turkey and indeed, in the entire Middle East region, are smokers. The reasons for smoking seem to be somewhat more related to style among the Turkish than the American students. In the American case, there seems to be a recognition that they need to quit and that it is not an acceptable habit, whereas in the Turkish case, the effort to ensure approval among peers and feel "cool" is perhaps more important. Louisiana students seem more amenable to the vice of drinking alcohol than smoking and engage more heavily than the Turks. Both groups of students care about clothes and fashions. Rosiland Williams has pointed out that "consumers are an audience to be entertained by commodities ... " Historically, with the rise of the department store, techniques of merchandising induced the consumer to want to buy. A new social psychology emerged, an environment of mass consumption, whereby the intense satisfaction of the dream of wealth could be fulfilled. "The illusion of riches could be enjoyed in dress ... " This created "a vast delusion whereby human inequalities are masked by material appearances" (Williams, 1991, p. 204, p. 226, p. 231). This psychology is seen among both groups of students who overwhelmingly engage in the consumption of clothes. Our results also indicate that there are not significant cross national differences in this psychology of consumption. Our measures of post-materialist values also show that such trends as greater environmental concern are international in scope (Inglehart, 1995). We cannot conclude that one group of students demonstrate greater postmaterialist values than the other. Here

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we are dealing with a relatively conservative area of the United States, and it might be that were we to deal with data from the socioeconomically upscale communities in such a state as California, we might see significant differences. It would be interesting to have data from a more liberal area of the United States as a point of comparison. In this study both groups of students demonstrated a high degree of concern with their health and exercise, a high degree of concern for the environment, and engaged in at least some acts to help preserve the environment (see Table III). It is interesting that patterns of behavior in terms of regulating diet and environmental acti9n showed similar, sometimes paralle], patterns in both countries. Finally, our hypothesis that Turkish students are more idealistic than the Louisiana students seems to be confirmed (see Table IV). A significantly higher proportion of Louisiana students than Turkish students cared about themselves more than the well-being of society. Slightly more Turks cared about money than equality, but the difference was not significant. Turks were also more willing to give up things to help the poor. Both groups of students thought there should be more equality in the world. These results are similar to those of an earlier study (Girdner and Burroughs, unpublished). It is also possible that in Louisiana, students have been influenced by the battle over welfare spending waged by such Right-wing political candidates as David Duke. Racial politics in the South might affect the majority of students in the direction of political conservatism. Another factor may be that the American economy is not growing as fast as the economy in Turkey, and many young Americans do not expect their future to be as bright as that of their parents (Girdner, Eisenman and Akis, 1995). The Turkish students, on the other hand, largely see a bright future for themselves in the new more open and liberal economy of contemporary Turkey. CONCLUSION This study replicates the results of previous research (Girdner and Burroughs, unpublished) in which it was found that Turkish students from upper socio-economic backgrounds are often more liberal in their beliefs and lifestyles than students in the southern part of the United States. In terms of family values and idealism, the Turkish students are more liberal and idealistic. Both groups

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of students demonstrate both materialistic tendencies, in terms of consumption, and postmaterialist tendencies, in terms of concern with their diet and with the environment. This study serves as a basis for further research into cross-cultural lifestyles of young people.

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