ملخص الرسالة

ATTITUDES OF SAUDI MALE STUDENTS IN THE UNITED STATES TOWARD SELECTED WOMEN'S ISSUES
 
 
 
by

Adibah Al Shammas
B.A., Kuwait University, 1977
 
 
 
 
A thesis project submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Colorado in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
 Master of Arts
Department of Sociology
1983

 
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
 
Summary
 The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between two sets of variables:
(1) Attitudes of Saudi male students toward selected women's issues as a dependent variable, and (2) Length of stay in the United States, level of education, marital status, and region of origin in Saudi Arabia. Previous studies in this area of cross-cultural education and attitude change have indicated that a cross-cultural learning process is taken to consist of both technical learning  and cultural learning.
It is assumed that a period of  study abroad brings some changes to most sojourners (Kumagai, 1977).
This present study was conducted within the frame- work of a cognitive model theory, specifically Festinger's dissonance theory. One of the main characteristics of human thought, behavior and action is a tendency towards consistency. Cognitions about some person or event tend to be organized and integrated into a meaningful whole, giving some structure, meaning and stability to everyday experience. New information may disrupt this organiza­tion and produce disharmony; and because it is difficult to tolerate this state of affairs, a tension-state will develop which, in turn, will move the individual to attempt to reduce this disharmony and inconsistency.
Festinger (1957) stated two basic hypotheses in his theory: (1) existence of dissonance, being psychologi­cally uncomfortable will motive the person to try to reduce this dissonance and achieve consonance; and (2) when dissonance is present, in addition to trying to reduce it, the person will actively avoid situations and information which would likely increase the disson­ance. The theory of cognitive dissonance is applicable here, since sudden changes occurred in Saudi Arabia as a result of the economic boom. It changed many aspects of life and produced a new pattern of behavior and actions which, in many instances, were dissonant with existing opinions and attitudes. One of the ways to reduce this dissonance is by changing the existing opinions and attitudes, and it is more applicable to Saudi students studying in the United States since the exposure to a different culture indicates a special case of dissonant relationship between students' behavior and their attitudes.
 
The subjects of this study were approximately 637 Saudi male students studying in four states in the United States during 1982 and sponsored by the Saudi Arabian Educational Mission in Houston. The data were based upon the responses of 325 students who represented approxi­mately 54% of the total subjects.
Chi-square was used at the major statistical test; frequency and distribution were employed. A .05 alpha level was selected as a significant level in this study.
Of 61 items, 7 items related to length of time in the United States, 2 items related to level of education, 4 items related to marital status, and 11 items related to region of origin in Saudi Arabia; all proved to be statistically significant. However, generally, the data did not support the hypothesis between the attitudes of Saudi male students toward women, their length of stay in the united States, level of education, marital status and region of origin in Saudi Arabia.
Conclusions
From the results presented and within the limita­tions of the study, it can be concluded that:
1. The findings of this study were generally incon­sistent with the hypothesis relating to the relation­ship between  length of stay in the United States and attitudes towards women. Of 61 items, only 7 items were significant in relationship to length of stay in the united States. Some items showed an unexpected relation­ship. That is, the longer Saudi students stay in the united States, the lower positive attitude they hold. Saudi students who spent less than six months showed the lowest positive attitude; but those who spent one year to two years showed the most positive attitude, compared to those who had spent more than four years.
Two possible explanations for this are offered.
First, it is reasonable for students who just came from Saudi Arabia to have the lowest positive attitude, which is, indeed, supported in the hypothesis. After a while, they begin changing their attitudes as a result of their new experience. Later, however, realizing that they will be returning to their traditional society, they began preparing themselves to readjust again, but this second readjustment is a readjustment back into their tradi­tional society in order to be accepted. Second, after their initial immersion into the new culture and their acceptance of it was over, there arose by necessity within these students a much deeper thinking and further understanding and assimilation of the implications of the values and attitudes of their own traditional culture as contrasted with that prevailing in this foreign culture.
Apparently, they found it more consonant to return to their traditional values and attitudes.
2. The findings fail to support the second hypothesis, which assumed that the level of education tends to affect the attitude towards women. Of 61 items, only 2 items were significant in relation to the level of education. One item shows the expected relationship, the higher level of education they have the more positive attitude they hold. The second item shows the Master level is the most positive compared to the ph.D. level. This result may be accepted if we consider the Master
and Ph.D. level as graduate (high level).
3. The findings fail to support the third hypothesis which assumed a relationship between marital status and attitude towards women. Of 61 items, only four items were significant in relation to marital status. In some items, the divorced males tend to have the most positive attitude compared to the single males. Possibly, this directional trend could stem from the divorced males having had bad experiences because of their negative attitude towards women before, and this past marital experience tends to change their attitude to a positive one.
4. Finally, the findings fail to support the fourth hypothesis which assumed that the region of origin in Saudi Arabia affected the attitude of males towards women. Of 61 items, 11 items were significant in rela­tion to the region of origin in Saudi Arabia. Although those from the Southern region showed the lowest positive attitude towards women as expected, and those from the Eastern and Northern regions showed the most positive attitude toward women, those from the Central region showed an even more positive attitude toward women compared to those from the Western region, which is really unexpected according to the hypothesis. A possible explanation for this could be that those from the Central region tend to have a positive attitude,
but they do not translate it into practical actions, letting the observer assume that they do not hold posi­tive attitudes. Yet, the questionnaire did not emphasize practical actions.
Although the results demonstrate very little relationship between the two sets of variables, it may be in error to conclude that no relationship exists. It is possible that the manner in which the questions were asked in the questionnaire failed to reflect this rela­tionship. Another explanation is that the self-reporting instrument inherited a weakness for reflecting the real attitudes of the respondents. People tend to express the more "popular" attitudes rather than the ones they   actually hold and practice. The fact that the researcher was a woman surveying men about male attitudes toward females may have influenced the students responding. Lastly, the items reflecting the interaction between
the respondents and the American culture were limited. Items encompassing such interactions that could have been  included are:        Have  you lived with Americans? Do you have close American       friends with whom you associate? How many close American friends do you have? What type of socializing do you do with your American friends? dinner? culture? sports- recreation? study? In conclusion, this study did not establish a causal relationship between the dependent and independent variables, but it is an exploratory type and it needs further extensive investigation.
 
 
Implications
 
Generally, the data collected for this study showed that the Saudi male students hold a positive attitude towards women, although the percentage of students showing positive attitudes ranges from a low of 15% to a high of 90%, depending upon the question. This result gives support for the application of the cognitive dissonance theory to Saudi Arabia in a time of socio­economic change. Since the sudden changes occurred in Saudi Arabia as a result of the economic boom, this changed many aspects of life and produced a new pattern of behavior and actions which, in many instances, were dissonant with existing opinions and attitudes. In order to reduce this dissonance, many existing opinions and attitudes were changed. Attitudes toward women is an example of the change of the existing opinions and attitudes in order to reduce the dissonance. It is true that the change affected everyone in society after the sudden economic change, but in different degrees and in different ways.
The attitudes of those students depicted in this study who are studying abroad are very important since a large number of them are expected to be in leadership positions in Saudi Arabia to effect the process of social change. Their positive attitudes towards women indicate that they probably will encourage the new role of women in their society, at least among their families.
This present study began by discussing whether an experience as living abroad in a very liberal society would change the attitudes of the Saudi male students toward women. The results obtained from this study did not support this assumption: that exposure to a differ­ent culture tends to change the students' attitudes. However, this does not mean that there is no relationship . between this exposure and attitude change. It may mean that maybe other factors operate in reducing the effects of exposure to a different culture.
The first factor is the degree of interaction of contact with Americans in the new society. In this study, the four states from which the sample for this study was drawn comprise a very large number of Saudi students, thereby encouraging Saudis to interact with each other more than with the Americans and conse­quently reducing the effects of the new culture upon the Saudi students.
The second factor is the background of the Saudi students. Since they came from a very traditional society dominated by religious values, it is very difficult for them to easily assimilate the new values and attitudes, especially those counteractive to their Islamic teaching. This will be clear if the Saudi students are compared with any other foreign student from another society in which religion does not exert the major influence in their life and attitudinal formation.
The third factor is that a change may be painful or involve loss (Festinger, 1957), especially in the case of a large number of Saudis living together In the same area or city. It will be assumed that the social group will exert a kind of social control over the students' behavior or attitudes; and any extreme change will inflict pain upon the individual at the risk of loss of group support or relationships.
The fourth factor is the individual differences among people in the degree to which they react to the existence of dissonance. For some people, dissonance  is an extremely painful and intolerable state, while there are others who seem to be able to tolerate a  large amount of dissonance. Persons with low toler­ance for dissonance should show more discomfort in the presence of dissonance and should manifest a greater effort to reduce dissonance than persons who have a higher tolerance (Festinger, 1957). It is possible that most Saudi students have high tolerance for dissonance, which enables them to maintain their old attitudes toward women and yet also believe that there are certain issues about which they may be wrong. In essence, they would be maintaining two sets of cognitions which are dissonant with one another. This would be justified if they realize that they will encounter dissonance after they return home if they changed complete. It is a matter of a comparison process between the two condi­tions of dissonance, especially if they are constantly cognizant of their eventual return home and that their stay in the host country is not forever. These then, are some, among the many factors, tending to affect the relationship between exposure to another culture and attitude change specifically for Saudi students studying in the United States.
The important point to be made thus far is that exposure to a different culture imparts new events or information which creates at least momentary dissonance with existing knowledge, attitude or cognition concern­ing behavior. The greater the dissonance, the greater will be the intensity of the action to reduce this dissonance, and the greater to the avoidance of situations that would increase this dissonance (Festinger, 1957).
In general, if dissonance exists, three possible approaches exist to reducing or eliminating it:
(1) changing the behavioral cognitive elements in such  a way that it is consonant with the environmental element;
 (2) changing an environmental cognitive element by changing the situation to which that element corre­sponds; and
 (3) adding new cognitive elements that are consonants with the existing one (Festinger, 1957).
The question now is: Did the Saudi students experience the dissonant condition as a result of their exposure to a different culture? It is probably safe to assume that it is rare for no dissonance at all to exist within this type of experience. So the dilemma might be related to the magnitude of dissonance and
more meaningfully to the ways to reduce it rather than to have experienced it. It is possible to assume that the Saudi students experienced less stressful dissonance because they believed that they will face another dis­sonance at home if they changed completely or because they perceived their situation as individual component  elements     with which they were able to cope, thereby creating less dissonance than if the object of their dissonance were viewed as    one major whole. Because it is very clear from the findings that there is no significant relationship between length of stay in the United States and all the items in this study which then allows the assumption that the Saudi students did not practice attitudinal change to reduce their dis­sonance, which did, in fact, occur, what approach or course of action did they employ to temporarily reduce their dissonance during their stay in the United States? Did they change the situation or environment to reduce this dissonance by ignoring or counteracting the real situation? For example, did Saudi students seek out each other for a "support group" to assist in maintain­ing their attitudes, particularly if they had a very strong identity with their background, knowing that they would return home eventually? Is this one of the unconscious or unmentioned needs met by the large Saudi male population in these four western states from whom the population study drew, especially since these states have large numbers of Saudi students? Did they add new cognitive elements that were consonant with existing ones? For example, did Saudi students seek information about the negative results about working, educated American women which supported their existing attitudes?
Perhaps these questions could be more fully explored in future research in a similar questionnaire devoting more questions to the amount of interaction or friend­ships Saudi male students enjoy with Saudis vs. Ameri­cans or the types of interactions.
The critical question which might be asked is:  Is this attitude which has been measured in this study reflecting real attitude of Saudi students studying in the United States? In other words, did the students respond to the questions according to their real attitudes or to the ones they thought they were supposed to hold?
Yet more important is what direction their con­tribution to the attitudinal change in Saudi Arabia will take. That is, whether some of those who disliked what they saw in the United States will promote more conservative attitudes, especially towards women. On the other hand, would some of them promote a Western attitude without regard to the Islamic teaching and social values over their own, which, in turn, will provoke a strong rejection to any change in the existing attitude toward women and consequently hinder the socioeconomic development of the country. This researcher believes strongly that any changes in the existing attitudes and practices towards women in Saudi Arabia should be based firmly on the Islamic perspective which respects the woman, yet allows her an important role in the society.
She also believes that Saudi Arabians should develop their own ideal model which will fit their society to promote its development.
 
Recommendations for Further Research
 The findings of this study are of an exploratory type and need to be further examined and refined in future research.
It would be significant for a researcher to compare the attitudes of the Saudi male students in the united States toward women with the attitudes of Saudi male students in Saudi Arabia toward women. This would examine the question if there are any affects of American culture on Saudi male students' attitudes toward women.
It is equally meaningful for a researcher to examine the effect of American culture on Saudi students by a longitudinal design, study the students' attitudes before and after their experiences in the united States.
A similar study could be conducted with the primary emphasis on the degree of contact or interaction with Americans and determining reference group influence on students' attitudes. It may be that students were not influenced by the length of their exposure to the Americans as much as they were influenced by the change in their reference groups.
A comparison study could be made between the students' attitudes towards American women and Saudi women, to see how much difference there is.
It would be significant for a researcher to study the Saudi students upon their return to Saudi Arabia to see if they translate their positive attitudes to practical action and to what degree the American experience will influence their social life back home.
It would be interesting to compare Saudi males' attitudes toward women with Saudi female attitudes toward men to examine the question of who is responsible for the misunderstanding between men and women.