Master of Arts in Higher Education (MAHE) Theses

Date of Award

2010

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

First Advisor

Scott Moeschberger

Second Advisor

Randall Dodge

Third Advisor

Skip Trudeau

Abstract

The college years are a critical time for the development of healthy male-female relationships, but institutions on the whole often neglect or poorly meet that need. Astin (1993b) found that "college does not eliminate or even reduce many of the stereotypical differences between the sexes" and often "serve[s] to widen gender gaps that existed at the point of college entry" (p.9). One such remedy for this developmental issue is the coeducational hall, a learning environment designed to engender normal interactions between men and women and break down unsubstantiated biases between genders.

This study examined the relationship between coeducational housing and men's attitudes toward women on one small, private college campus. 494 men completed the Attitudes toward Women Scale (Spence, Helmreich, & Stapp, 1973), and their results were analyzed by living situation. A comparison of means found that men living in coeducational residence halls scored higher on the feminism scale than did men living in all-male halls, demonstrating that men in these halls hold more progressive attitudes toward women. These findings both show there is a relationship between coeducational halls and healthy inter-gender relationships and provide a foundation for future studies into the effectiveness of such residential designs.

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