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Freeing of Interpersonal Relationships
Robert A. Mines and Albert B. Hood
Another vector is that of the freeing of interpersonal relationships. According to Chickering (1969), this vector consists of two aspects, (l) increased tolerance and respect for people of different backgrounds, values, and life styles, and (2) a shift in the quality of relationships with close friends and intimates. Increased tolerance refers to an openness to and acceptance of diversity which expands the person's sensitivities and increases the range of alternatives for satisfying relationships. The shift in the quality of relationships with friends refers to moving from dependence through independence toward an interdependence which allows the individual a wider range of freedom of movement and behavior (Mines, 1977). It is characterized by greater trust and stability. According to Chickering, young adults are influenced by adults, friends, and significant others and as freeing of interpersonal relationship takes place they react differently to them. Friendships become stronger and people prefer to spend more time with a few friends instead of participating in large group activities. Relationships with adults also become easier. Relationships with significant others change also. People become more capable of having close relationships including intimacy.
Scale Construction
An original item pool of 93 items was developed. The instrument was composed of two scales tolerance and quality of relationships:
l. Tolerance is defined as an increasing openness and acceptance of diverity which expands
one's sensitivities and increases the range of alternatives for satisfying exchanges and
friendships. Examples of the items on this sub-scale are:
"I accept my friends as they are,"
"One of the problems with my fellow
students is that they were not dealt with firmly when they were younger,"
"I personally find it sickening to be around my friends when they do not act in a mature
manner."
2. Quality of relationships is defined as a shift in relationships with friends
from either extreme dependence or independence, toward a state of
interdependence. It is characterized by greater trust and stability. Examples
of items on this sub-scale are:
"I can tell my friends just about anything that is on my mind and know they will accept me,"
"My social life is satsifying to me,"
"I relate to most students as an equal."
The items are designed to be answered on a 4.0 Likert type scale with options ranging from (l) strongly agree, (2) agree, (3) disagree, to (4) strongly disagree. The initial inventory was administered to 65 undergraduate and graduate students with a roughly equal split between males and females. The Cronbach's Alpha (1951) reliability coefficient for the Tolerance scale (40 items) was .76 and that for the Quality of Relationships scale (53 items) was .87. Correlation of the scale scores was .60.
Items on the original form which were unrelated to the scale in which they were intended or which had higher correlations with the other sub-scale were eliminated. In addition, items that had .1 or less difference between their correlations with both scales were also dropped. A few items falling into the above categories were kept in the scale because they were theoretically important to the integrity of the scale. The Cronbach alpha reliability coefficient of the revised Tolerance scale was .77. The reliability coefficient for the Quality of Relationships scale was .87. The intercorrelation of the two scale scores was .25.
The final inventory entitled The Mines-Jensen Interpersonal Relationships Inventory (MJIRI) consists of 42 items which represent four content areas: peers, adults, friends, and significant others, on two scales (Mines, 1978). The final Tolerance scale consists of 20 items with a total possible score from 20 to 80 with students typically scoring in the 45 to 65 range. The Quality of Relationships sub-scale contains 22 items yeilding possible scores between 22 and 88 with most students scoring in range of 55 to 75.
In July, l977, the MJIRI was administered to a random sample of l68 entering freshmen attending The University of Iowa's Summer Orientation Program. The majority of these students were white, single, and under l9 years of age at the time of their entrance to the University. In November, l977, those students who had a social security number ending in an odd digit were asked to re-take the instrument. Sixty-two (75%) participated in this four month retesting. In March, l978, the remaining group with even social security numbers were followed-up and 36 (50%) of the freshmen enrolled at that time participated in the eight- month retesting. The total group was followed-up four years later during the spring semester of l98l. Those students still on campus at that time were invited to participate again in the follow-up study. Different testing times were arranged and a number of convenient locations and additional mailings and phone calls were made to encourage participation. Finally, copies of the materials with self-addressed stamped envelopes were mailed to students who had not come in for testing. Eventually 82 of the l09 students had participated resulting in a 75% participation rate.
Alpha coefficient reliabilities for the l68 freshmen tested were .65 for the Tolerance scale and .68 for the Quality of Relationships scale. The correlation between the two scales was .28. The somewhat suppressed reliabilities may have been a function of the age-homogeneous sample. The interscale correlation was low suggesting the two scales are measuring different constructs. Administration of the inventory to an age heterogeneous sample is needed to determine if the suppressed reliabilities was in fact due to the homogeneous sample used in this testing.
First Year Retesting
Mean scores for each of the testings are shown in Table E-1 along with reliability information on each of the scales. Paired sample t-tests were performed on the regressed mean scores of the Tolerance and Quality of Relationships scales. The mean scores on both of the two scales--Tolerance and Quality of Relationships-- for both of the retests were significantly higher than those obtained for the total group during the orientation period. In both of the first year retests, a number of additional items were included on the questionnaire dealing with attitudes and experiences of these students during their first year at the university. A number of these which dealt with changes in interpersonal relationships with friends and faculty members were found to be related at a statistically significant level to scores on the retest. In this way some aspects of construct validity were obtained for the MJIRI. The results also yielded evidence that changes on the vector of freeing of interpersonal relationships begin to occur very early--during the first semester of a student's college career.
Four Year Follow-Up Study
Four years later, during what would ordinarily have been the students senior year at the university, the sample of l68 entering freshmen was followed-up during the spring semester of l98l. There were l09 of the l68 still on the campus who were invited to participate in the four year follow-up study. After a number of mailings and phone calls to encourage participation, eventually 82 of the l09 students participated resulting in a 75% participation rate. The 82 students retested in their senior year showed a significant increase in the scores on both sub- scales (Table E-2). In comparing the means from the summer orientation testing to the end of freshmen year retesting and the follow-up testing at the end of the senior year, it appears that much of the change occurred during the freshmen year. The 82 students retested during their senior year had mean scores when tested in l977 similar to the entire freshmen sample. Scores on the MJIRI were therefore unrelated to student attrition at The University of Iowa. The results obtained by Mines for the small group retested during the freshman year suggest that much of this growth on the Interpersonal Relationships vector occurred during the freshman year. These results do not support Chickering's hypothesis that development on several other vectors, including the Ego-Identity vector must occur before growth can take place in interpersonal relationships. In both the l977 and the l98l administrations, scores on the Tolerance sub-scale were quite similar for males and females while for the Quality of Relationships sub-scale, the females scored significantly higher on both occasions (Table E-3).
At the time of the senior year retesting, a questionnaire was administered to collect demographic data from the students which consisted of items regarding background, current commitments, and experiences and activities of students during their college years. No differences were found on MJIRI scores in regard to geographic background, type of major, overseas travel, or future educational plans. Significant relationships were found between participation in three of four types of undergraduate activities and scores on the Quality of Relationships sub-scale (Table E-4). Students reporting active participation in campus activities, recreational activities, and work experiences obtained higher scores than those reporting little or no participation. These relationships were found between the scores found for the scores students obtained as seniors and no significant relationships were found on these variables for the sub-scales scores obtained as entering freshmen. The results of this longitudinal study making use of the MJIRI indicate that participation in various types of extracurricular activities on the campus is related to growth on the vector of the freeing of interpersonal relationships at least as assessed by this instrument.
Students who reported liberal religious beliefs as seniors obtained higher scores on the Tolerance sub- scale than did students who fell into the conservative and fundamentalist religious groups. Both groups of students had almost identical mean scores when they originally took the instrument in l977. Thus students who either came with liberal religious convictions or changed in that direction in college developed a higher level of tolerance than did the more conservative students. These studies making use of the MJIRI suggest that several dimensions of Chickering's vector of Freeing of Interpersonal Relationships are subject to measurement and quantification. Although the initially substantial reliabilities were somewhat reduced on the homogeneous samples utilized in the further studies, these studies did indicate a certain amount of construct validity for the dimensions assessed by the MJIRI.
References
Chickering, A. W. (1969). Education and identity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Mines, R. A. (1977). Development and validation of the Mines-Jensen Interpersonal Relationship Inventory (Iowa Student Development Project Technical Report #6). Unpublished manuscript, The University of Iowa.
Mines, R. A. (1978). Change in college students along Chickering's vector of Freeing of Interpersonal Relationships (Iowa Student Development Project Technical Report #26). Unpublished manuscript, The University of Iowa.
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Table E-1
Means, Standard Deviations, Number of Items,
and Reliabilities of the Scales
___________________________________________________
_ No. of
Testing Scale X S.D. Items Reliability
___________________________________________________
SUMMER
1st Testing Tolerance 55.65 5.72 20 .64
Quality 65.03 5.79 22 .65
4-MONTH
Re-test Tolerance 57.60 5.60 20 .66
Quality 68.43 5.72 22 .68
8-MONTH
Re-test Tolerance 57.80 4.20 20 .44
Quality 65.56 5.94 22 .72
________________________________________________
Interscale Correlations for Tolerance and Quality Scales
Summer .28
4-Month Re-test .31
8-Month Re-test .26
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Table E-2
Mean Interpersonal Relationship Scores
________________________________________________________________
Sum '77 Sum '77 Fall '77 Spring '78 Spring '81
(All) ('81 Sample)
Sub-Scales Mean Mean S.D. Mean S.D. Mean S.D. Mean S.D.
Tolerance 55.65 55.71 5.7 57.60* 5.6 57.80* 4.2 59.23* 5.5
Quality 65.03 65.10 5.8 68.42* 5.7 65.56 5.9 69.56* 6.1
_________________________________________________________________
N = 168 82 62 36 82
________________________________________________________________
*Significantly different from Summer '77 at .05 level.
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Table E-3
Male and Female Scores on the
Interpersonal Relationship Inventory
________________________________________________
Sub-Scales Male Female t
1977 Means
Tolerance 54.78 55.02 0.20
Quality 63.00 66.52 2.38*
N = 35 47
1981 Means
Tolerance 58.18 59.81 1.25
Quality 68.30 71.25 2.25*
N = 35 47
_______________________________________________
*Significant at .05 level
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Table E-4
Correlations Between Amount of Participation
in Activities and Quality of Relationship Scores
______________________________________________________
Activity 1977 1981
Scores Scores
______________________________________________________
Campus Organizations .05 .23*
Cultural Events .11 .15
Recreational Activities .14 .35**
Work Experiences .04 .28*
n = 75 75
_____________________________________________________
* = significant at .05 level
** = significant at .01 level
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