Conceptual Representation of Mother, Father, and God According to Sex and Field of Study

Abstract

Summary The present research studied the influence of field of study, level of studies, and sex on the conceptual representation of mother, father, and God. The Score Dieu-Parent instrument was administered in Canada to 351 male and female university students from the liberal arts, science, and graduate populations. Factors were extracted for each image, and the degree of congruence was obtained for all possible pairs of factors. Semantic differences between the three images were calculated for each S. The Ss were compared, on the basis of the distance scores, in an analysis of variance using a 2 × 3 × 3 factorial design. The results showed that (a) the variable sex had an influence on the representation of the parents but not on the representation of God; (b) the field of studies and the level of studies affected the conceptual image of God; and (c) the mother image appeared to be the most adequate symbol for the representation of God.