Abstract
The present study, conducted just prior to the 1973 U. S. Supreme Court decision on abortion, focused on effects of personality characteristics and one health-profession choice (student nursing vs a liberal arts major) upon attitudes toward abortion. Ss were 96 students from an introductory psychology class, 49 student nurses, and 46 liberal arts majors. It was predicted that student nurses would be more negative toward legalizing abortion than would liberal arts majors. Results supported this prediction (p < .025). Personality characteristics were assessed by the 16 PF (Cattell, Eber, & Tatsuoka, 1970) and were analyzed to yield four second-order factors: anxiety vs adjustment, extraversion vs introversion, subduedness vs independence, and tender-minded emotionality vs alert poise. Anxiety, introversion, subduedness, and tendermindedness were all expected to predispose Ss to be more against abortion than the other halves of these dichotomies. Predictions were supported (ps from .05 to .025) for all but anxiety.