The Impact of the threat of nuclear war on adolescents in New Zealand

Abstract

This study investigates the attitudes and beliefs of New Zealand adolescents about the future and the threat of nuclear war. A written questionnaire survey of 2,148 secondary school students was conducted in the Wellington region. The nuclear threat was treated as a social stressor. Using this conceptual framework, the adolescents' psychological appraisal of the nuclear threat was explored. The questionnaire investigated the key characteristics of the nuclear threat as a stressor. International comparisons were facilitated by using similar methods to previous and current research in other countries. The study also contributed to an international comparative project and comparisons were made with the findings of American, Soviet and Swedish researchers. The results support the findings of previous New Zealand research; the adolescents' perceptions about the prospect of nuclear war were similar to those of their Northern Hemisphere counterparts. They ranked nuclear war very highly in relation to other personal and global concerns. The reported level of concern about the prospect of nuclear war decreased with age and females reported more concern than males. The adolescents were concerned about New Zealanders' survival of a nuclear war and thought that they could exert little influence to prevent such a war. In spite of this, the large majority of them were optimistic that nuclear war could be prevented and they reported a marked commitment to and optimism about the future. These findings are discussed in relation to the social and political climate in New Zealand, the nuclear threat as a social stressor, gender and age differences in the responses, and recommendations for future research.