Middle adolescents' views of war and American military involvement in the Persian Gulf

A sample of 189 eleventh graders in three different school locations (rural, urban, and suburban) was surveyed in order to (a) assess the effects of such variables as school setting, race, and gender on attitudes toward war; (b) examine attitudes toward the Persian Gulf War in relation to attitudes toward war in general; and (c) compare present-day attitudes with those identified in earlier studies concerning Vietnam and Latin America. While reactions to war were found to be associated with gender, race, and school setting, students in the present study were slightly less supportive of war in general, but more supportive of the Gulf War than were past subjects of the conflicts of their day.