Indagación del autoritarismo en la infancia: Vinculaciones con la orientación de dominancia social y los valores en niños y niñas de la ciudad de Córdoba (Argentina)

Abstract

El estudio que se informa apuntó a analizar las relaciones existentes entre los niveles de autoritarismo y de orientación de dominancia social y los valores sociales en población infantil. Se trabajó con una muestra no probabilística de tipo accidental de 280 niños de la ciudad de Córdoba, de ambos sexos, que tenían entre 9 y 11 años. Se administró un cuestionario compuesto por tres escalas que indagaban las variables en estudio, previo consentimiento informado de los padres y autorizaciones de los niños y de las autoridades de las instituciones escolares, atendiendo a las variables sociodemográficas de edad y sexo de los participantes. Se efectuaron análisis uni y bivariados de las variables estudiadas. Los resultados confirman la relación positiva existente entre la Agresión autoritaria con la Orientación a la dominancia grupal, entre el autoritarismo en sus dos dimensiones (Agresión autoritaria y Sumisión autoritaria) y la Orientación a la dominancia grupal con los valores sociales de Conservación, y entre la Orientación a la dominancia grupal con los valores de Autopromoción. También complementariamente y de acuerdo a lo esperado, se ratificaron relaciones inversas entre la Oposición a la igualdad con los valores de Apertura al cambio y de Autotrascendencia y entre la Orientación a la dominancia grupal, con los valores de Autotrascendencia. No obstante e inesperadamente se evidenció una relación inversa entre la Sumisión autoritaria con la Oposición a la igualdad y con los valores de Apertura al cambio y entre la Oposición a la igualdad con los valores de Conservación. En función de los resultados obtenidos se discute acerca de las particularidades que adquiere esta articulación a los fines de realizar un aporte a la comprensión de actitudes autoritarias en la niñez, debido a que es una etapa crucial para la adquisición de actitudes que impactan directamente en el comportamiento político y social (Huerta, Bañuelos, Rodríguez, Luz & Gómez, 2006, en Imhoff & Brussino, 2010).

This research, developed in the field of Political Psychology, aims to contribute to the understanding of authoritarian attitudes in during childhood, focusing on the relationships with other psychosocial and psycho-political variables such as social values and social dominance orientation. It's important to study the authoritarianism nowadays, due to the fact that it would obstruct the progress to a new political and economic model that allows the human development and the citizen's participation and involvement, favouring solidarity bonds and social identity (Zaiter, 2002). Thus, the scientific approach of this phenomenon makes its understanding possible and would give tools that can be used for the strengthening of democracy and the acquisition of values and democratic attitudes. Additionally, it's relevant to study the authoritarian attitudes in childhood owing to the fact that is an area of vacancy in the authoritarianism's field because most of the investigations study the authoritarianism in adults or teenagers. The research aims to analyze the relationships between the authoritarianism's level, the social dominance orientation's level and social values in children's population. This inquiry is a co-relational study in which the sample was selected using a non-random accidental sampling of 280 children from Córdoba city, male and female, from 9 to 11years old. The sample consists of 52.3% of girls and a 47.7% of boys, whereas in relation to the age distribution, there are 27.7% of 9 year old children, 32.6 % of 10 year old and 39.8% of 11 year old. The questionnaire was composed of three scales which inquiry into the variables involved and was applied with a previous parents' and head teachers' consent. These scales were: The adaptation of Altemeyer's (2006) Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA) Scale to children from Córdoba city by Imhoff and Brussino (2011a); the adaptation of Sidanius and Pratto's (1999) Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) Scale to children's population from Córdoba city by Imhoff and Brussino (2012), and the adaptation of Schwartz and Rubel-Lifschitz's (2009) Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ) to children's population from Córdoba city by Imhoff and Brussino (2011b). In addition, socio-demographic variables such as sex and age were asked. Furthermore, the questionnaires were administered orally and individually to each child. Afterwards, univariate and bivariate analysis were performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Regarding the results, unvaried analysis showed a higher level of Authoritarian submission than Authoritarian aggression. In relation to social dominance orientation, high scores in Opposition to equality were obtained and a homogeneous distribution in the level of Group based-dominance. Meanwhile, concerning to the children's valorative preference, high scores were found in Self-enhancement, low scores in Self-transcendence and regarding to Conservation and Openness to change, significant differences were not found between high and low levels. Concerning the relationships between the variables, results confirmed a positive relation between Authoritarian aggression with Group based-dominance; between authoritarianism (both dimensions Authoritarian aggression and Authoritarian submission) and group based-dominance with Conservation; and between group based-dominance with Self-enhancement. Moreover, results also demonstrated a negative relationship between Opposition to equality with Openness to change and Self-transcendence; and between Groups based- dominance with Self-transcendence. On the other hand, results revealed a negative relationship between Authoritarian submission with Opposition to equality and Openness to change; and also between Opposition to equality with Conservation values. According to these results, the peculiarities that acquire this articulation are discussed in order to contribute to the understanding of authoritarian attitudes in childhood. Due to the fact that is a crucial stage for the acquisition of attitudes that impact directly in political and social behaviour (Huerta, Bañuelos, Rodríguez, Luz & Gómez, 2006).