Psychological Reports, 1979, 4 4 . 1175-1180. @ Psychological Reports 1979
FATALISM IN COAL MINERS DAVID I. CHIAPPONE
AND
WILLIAM H. KROES Wilshire Crest Medical Grorrp, Los Angeles, California
Sauier University
study of the viability of the attitude labeled as "fatalism" who work in n life stressful situation, was undertaken. Subiects were 33 Caucasian male miners and 33 Caucasian male industrial workers from northern West Virginia. Each subject was administered the Valecha InternalExternal Scale, the Berger Self-acceptance Scale, the Campbell Personal Competence Scale, and a questionnaire designed to tap fatalistic attitudes. The questionnaire data indicate no difference between the two groups. Results suggest that miners are not fatalistic as that term is commonly used, but interpretation of the miner's work safety attitudes should be made i n terms of reinforcement principles. Summary.-A
in miners.
The purpose of this study was a clearer understanding of the social contingencies operating on Appalachian coal miners, to learn more of how humans behave under extremely stressful circumstances. It has long been believed that miners react to stress by the mechanism of denial and thus evidence extreme attitudes of fatalism. English and English (1958, p. 203) define fatalism as "the doctrine chat the situation and acts of man are pre-determined by Deity (or some substitute therefor) and are not subject to change, either by individual volition or by act of anyone else." Previous studies have long attributed such an attitude to the Appalachian population (Lantz, 1958; Lucas, 1969; Weller, 1963). Such studies, however, are largely anecdotal, utilizing interview methods rather than standardized personality measures. This view of the Appalachian coal miners' behavior gains credence in view of the socioeconomic environment of the region. Historically, this environment has been one of strict religious fundamentalism, poor roads, lack of radio and television, and agricultural difficulties. However, ocher literature (Ford. 1962; Lewis, 1970; Ross, 1971 ) has challenged the interpretation of the miners' behavior as characteristically fatalistic. Unfortunately these studies have not provided viable alternatives or explanations of the behavior or used psychological terminology. Furthermore, these studies did not include standardized, personality measures. The present study compared miners and non-miners on variables associated with aspects of fatalism.
METHOD Subjects A total of 66 Caucasian male subjects from the Appalachian area (Fairmont and Morgantown, West Virginia) were utilized. Thirty-three subjects
1176
D. I. CHIAPPONE
&
W. H.KROES
were employed as miners at the time of this study. The remaining subjects were working in non-mining industries and served as the control comparison. The two groups were about equally varied in age; over-all the ages ranged from 18 to 66 yr. and mean ages for the miners and non-miners were 35.4 and 30.0 yr., respectively. The two groups were matched on years of experience on their respective job, work location, educational level, and living location. Mean income for the miners was $12,227, for the non-miners $9,772. Measures
The first scale employed was Valecha's (1972) 11-item abbreviated scale of internal-external locus of control, which, by definition, taps a fatalistic attitude, i.e., one's belief in luck, etc. The scale reflects a person's attitude as to whether he or some external force determines his life situation. This scale was selected as the items are more general, adult-oriented, and work related than other such scales. The second scale, Self-acceptance Scale (Berger, 1952), purports to tap a self-accepting characteristic of a person. Such a person's behavior is guided by internalized values, and a faith in his capacity to cope with life. It was hypothesized that an individual high on fatalism, i.e., an individual evidencing a high degree of external control, would tend to minimize the role of personal abilities in the determination of life consequences and would show low selfacceptance. The third scale was the Personal Competence Scale (Campbell, et al., 1960). Personal competence can be seen in terms of mastery of the environment. A person who lacks this competence ". . . may be resigned in a fatalistic way to a succession of events with which he does not feel that he can cope adequately" (Campbell, et al., 1960, p. 5 1 7 ) . Finally, a set of pooled questions, specifically related to fatalism, was used. The questions were designed to elicit information specifically related to the work situation. Thus, one could directly question the worker about worksafety attitudes and behavior, both toward himself and the company, about accidents and responsibility for safety, about use of safety procedures, about reasons for choice of the job, and finally about whether the worker felt workers are fatalistic.
RESULTS A 3 X 2 analysis of variance (Winer, 1971, p. 437) was performed on the responses to each of the first three scales, Valecha Internal-External, Berger Self-acceptance and Campbell Personal Competence. The factors were experience level, which was divided into three groups: &2, 3-9, 10 and above years of experience, and occupational grouping divided into miners and nonminers. It was hypothesized that these experience levels may involve differing
FATALISM IN COAL MINERS
1177
amounts of commitment to the job and work-related attitudes. The 0-2 level may be seen as an initiation period in which the worker "tries on" the job, its demands, its ramifications on family and social life to see whether to commit a significant portion of life to this particular job. In years 3-9, the worker may experience increased commitment to the job, as he strives to achieve competence and promotion within his chosen job area. After 10 years the worker may have obtained the promotion he sought or else resigned himself to his current position, limiting his striving and commitment. Analysis of variance of these measures produced no significant main effects or interactions for any of the three dependent measures. The mean scores obtained on these scales are presented in Table 1. Given this nonsignificance, all subjects were combined and correlations were computed between the three scales. TABLE 1 MEANSA N D STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF TWO OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS ON VALECHA INTERNAL-EX~RNAL SCALE, BERGER SELF-ACCEPTANCE SCALE, AND CAMPBELL PERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE
Scale Valecha
Berger Campbell
Miners
N 33 33 33
M
SD
23.78 76.12 4.42
5.26 19.31 1.27
Non-miners M SD 23.36 75.03 4.GO
5.92 25.01 1.75
The significant negative correlation between the Valecha Internal-External Scale and the Campbell Personal Competence Scale reflects the more one is internal the more he reports personal competence. Also, the significant negative correlation between the Berger Self-acceptance Scale and the Campbell Personal Competence Scale reflects the more one is self-accepting the more one reports personal competence. Concerning the pooled questionnaire, most miners and non-miners responded in a manner incompatible with a fatalistic attitude. For example, in answer to one question, 84% of the miners and 85% of the non-miners felt that accidents are caused, they do not just happen. Only 6% of the miners took TABLE 2 INTERCORRELATIONS: VALECHAINTERNAL-EXTERNAL SCALE.BERGER SELF-ACCEPTANCE SCALE, AND CAMPBELL PERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE
*P
FATALISM IN COAL MINERS DAVID I. CHIAPPONE
AND
WILLIAM H. KROES Wilshire Crest Medical Grorrp, Los Angeles, California
Sauier University
study of the viability of the attitude labeled as "fatalism" who work in n life stressful situation, was undertaken. Subiects were 33 Caucasian male miners and 33 Caucasian male industrial workers from northern West Virginia. Each subject was administered the Valecha InternalExternal Scale, the Berger Self-acceptance Scale, the Campbell Personal Competence Scale, and a questionnaire designed to tap fatalistic attitudes. The questionnaire data indicate no difference between the two groups. Results suggest that miners are not fatalistic as that term is commonly used, but interpretation of the miner's work safety attitudes should be made i n terms of reinforcement principles. Summary.-A
in miners.
The purpose of this study was a clearer understanding of the social contingencies operating on Appalachian coal miners, to learn more of how humans behave under extremely stressful circumstances. It has long been believed that miners react to stress by the mechanism of denial and thus evidence extreme attitudes of fatalism. English and English (1958, p. 203) define fatalism as "the doctrine chat the situation and acts of man are pre-determined by Deity (or some substitute therefor) and are not subject to change, either by individual volition or by act of anyone else." Previous studies have long attributed such an attitude to the Appalachian population (Lantz, 1958; Lucas, 1969; Weller, 1963). Such studies, however, are largely anecdotal, utilizing interview methods rather than standardized personality measures. This view of the Appalachian coal miners' behavior gains credence in view of the socioeconomic environment of the region. Historically, this environment has been one of strict religious fundamentalism, poor roads, lack of radio and television, and agricultural difficulties. However, ocher literature (Ford. 1962; Lewis, 1970; Ross, 1971 ) has challenged the interpretation of the miners' behavior as characteristically fatalistic. Unfortunately these studies have not provided viable alternatives or explanations of the behavior or used psychological terminology. Furthermore, these studies did not include standardized, personality measures. The present study compared miners and non-miners on variables associated with aspects of fatalism.
METHOD Subjects A total of 66 Caucasian male subjects from the Appalachian area (Fairmont and Morgantown, West Virginia) were utilized. Thirty-three subjects
1176
D. I. CHIAPPONE
&
W. H.KROES
were employed as miners at the time of this study. The remaining subjects were working in non-mining industries and served as the control comparison. The two groups were about equally varied in age; over-all the ages ranged from 18 to 66 yr. and mean ages for the miners and non-miners were 35.4 and 30.0 yr., respectively. The two groups were matched on years of experience on their respective job, work location, educational level, and living location. Mean income for the miners was $12,227, for the non-miners $9,772. Measures
The first scale employed was Valecha's (1972) 11-item abbreviated scale of internal-external locus of control, which, by definition, taps a fatalistic attitude, i.e., one's belief in luck, etc. The scale reflects a person's attitude as to whether he or some external force determines his life situation. This scale was selected as the items are more general, adult-oriented, and work related than other such scales. The second scale, Self-acceptance Scale (Berger, 1952), purports to tap a self-accepting characteristic of a person. Such a person's behavior is guided by internalized values, and a faith in his capacity to cope with life. It was hypothesized that an individual high on fatalism, i.e., an individual evidencing a high degree of external control, would tend to minimize the role of personal abilities in the determination of life consequences and would show low selfacceptance. The third scale was the Personal Competence Scale (Campbell, et al., 1960). Personal competence can be seen in terms of mastery of the environment. A person who lacks this competence ". . . may be resigned in a fatalistic way to a succession of events with which he does not feel that he can cope adequately" (Campbell, et al., 1960, p. 5 1 7 ) . Finally, a set of pooled questions, specifically related to fatalism, was used. The questions were designed to elicit information specifically related to the work situation. Thus, one could directly question the worker about worksafety attitudes and behavior, both toward himself and the company, about accidents and responsibility for safety, about use of safety procedures, about reasons for choice of the job, and finally about whether the worker felt workers are fatalistic.
RESULTS A 3 X 2 analysis of variance (Winer, 1971, p. 437) was performed on the responses to each of the first three scales, Valecha Internal-External, Berger Self-acceptance and Campbell Personal Competence. The factors were experience level, which was divided into three groups: &2, 3-9, 10 and above years of experience, and occupational grouping divided into miners and nonminers. It was hypothesized that these experience levels may involve differing
FATALISM IN COAL MINERS
1177
amounts of commitment to the job and work-related attitudes. The 0-2 level may be seen as an initiation period in which the worker "tries on" the job, its demands, its ramifications on family and social life to see whether to commit a significant portion of life to this particular job. In years 3-9, the worker may experience increased commitment to the job, as he strives to achieve competence and promotion within his chosen job area. After 10 years the worker may have obtained the promotion he sought or else resigned himself to his current position, limiting his striving and commitment. Analysis of variance of these measures produced no significant main effects or interactions for any of the three dependent measures. The mean scores obtained on these scales are presented in Table 1. Given this nonsignificance, all subjects were combined and correlations were computed between the three scales. TABLE 1 MEANSA N D STANDARD DEVIATIONS OF TWO OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS ON VALECHA INTERNAL-EX~RNAL SCALE, BERGER SELF-ACCEPTANCE SCALE, AND CAMPBELL PERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE
Scale Valecha
Berger Campbell
Miners
N 33 33 33
M
SD
23.78 76.12 4.42
5.26 19.31 1.27
Non-miners M SD 23.36 75.03 4.GO
5.92 25.01 1.75
The significant negative correlation between the Valecha Internal-External Scale and the Campbell Personal Competence Scale reflects the more one is internal the more he reports personal competence. Also, the significant negative correlation between the Berger Self-acceptance Scale and the Campbell Personal Competence Scale reflects the more one is self-accepting the more one reports personal competence. Concerning the pooled questionnaire, most miners and non-miners responded in a manner incompatible with a fatalistic attitude. For example, in answer to one question, 84% of the miners and 85% of the non-miners felt that accidents are caused, they do not just happen. Only 6% of the miners took TABLE 2 INTERCORRELATIONS: VALECHAINTERNAL-EXTERNAL SCALE.BERGER SELF-ACCEPTANCE SCALE, AND CAMPBELL PERSONAL COMPETENCE SCALE
*P
