Consumer education knowledge, attitude, and experiences of selected groups in Trinidad and Tobago: basis for curriculum development

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1986
Authors
Alexander, Theodora
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Abstract

The purposes of this study were (a) to examine the consumer education knowledge, attitude, and experiences of home economics students, their home economics teachers, and parents; (b) to examine relationships between consumer education knowledge, attitude, and experiences of students, parents, and teachers; (c) to examine relationships between these three consumer education competencies and selected demographic variables for these three groups of subjects; and (d) to make recommendations for consumer education programs in Trinidad and Tobago;Subjects were 413 students, 413 parents, and 35 teachers from seven senior comprehensive high schools in Trinidad and Tobago. Four hundred and thirteen students, 285 parents, and 22 teachers completed the questionnaire and provided data for analysis;Multiple and single classification analysis of variance procedures were used to identify significant differences between students', parents', and teachers' knowledge, attitude, and experiences. Teachers had higher levels of knowledge and more positive attitude than parents and students, but parents had more experiences than teachers and students. None of the three groups of subjects had remarkably high levels of knowledge of consumer education concepts, although attitudes towards these concepts were generally positive. Students had extremely low knowledge levels and some negative attitudes;Pearson product-moment correlations identified significant relationships between knowledge, attitude, experiences, and demographic variables for different groups of subjects and in different content areas. Significant relationships between knowledge and attitude were found for all three groups of subjects only on concepts pertinent to consumer rights and responsibilities. There appeared to be very few consistent patterns of significant relationship for any single group of subjects in the five content areas examined;It was recommended that (a) consumer education concepts be integrated into existing home economics curricula of senior comprehensive high schools; (b) inservice education be provided for home economics teachers who will be required to teach such concepts; and (c) consumer education content be included in adult/continuing education programs to meet the needs of parents in Trinidad and Tobago.

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Family and Consumer Sciences Education and Studies
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dissertation
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Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 UTC 1986
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