Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1 1985, Page 61
228 schools to be randomly selected (See Babbie, 1979). Then quota-sampling helped
determine how many schools would represent each county, according to the proportion of
its high school population to the total for all the counties. Systematic sampling within each
county list selected the specific schools to be contacted.
Letters of introduction were sent to all prospective schools, followed by phone contacts and
personal interviews with interested administrators. The number of classes per school and
the subsample of number of students per class were chosen to reflect the weighted
proportion of that school‘s population to the total for its county. Finally, students were
drawn from both required courses (World History, Civics, or English) and electives (such as
Psychology or Family Living) in the hope of getting a broader cross section of students than
those taking more specialized courses, e.g., clerical, mechanical, or math. Because a
teacher‘s strike in one county prevented access to its schools, two parochial high schools in
that county were randomly chosen as substitutes. The final sample consisting of 1,012
students with completed surveys was arbitrarily reduced to a round figure of 1,000 for more
ready reader comprehension of the statistical results.
Participants
The 1,000 students who completed our survey questionnaire represent the final sample of
participants obtained from a random selection of schools in counties within the greater San
Francisco Bay Area, and of classrooms within those schools. Our sample was generated
from forty-five different classrooms in twenty schools located in nine counties (some more
than a hundred miles apart), in rural and urban areas.
Although the majority of students were from standard public schools, some participants
represented alternative, continuation, and parochial schools. They ranged in age from 14 to
19 years most clustered around 16 to 18 years of age.
Fifty-four percent of the sample were female, 46% were male. Ethnic and racial composition
of the sample reflected the local county demographics: overall 62% were Caucasian and
38% non-Caucasian. Of the latter, 15% were Black, 12% Hispanic, 5% Asian-American, 3%
Oriental, and 0.5% American Indian. The majority (76%) reported having a religious
affiliation only 20% said they had none. Catholics made up the largest denomination
(43%), followed by Protestants (28%), Jews (4%), Mormons (2%), and Fundamentalists
(I%).
A fair range of socioeconomic backgrounds and academic level of achievement were also
represented in this sample. More than one third of the sample reported father‘s occupation
as professional, technical, managerial, or proprietor, while 22% indicated these were their
mother‘s occupations. About 10% of the fathers and 20% of the mothers were listed as
being in skilled and semi-skilled occupations. The rest were unemployed, retired, disabled or
in a special status, e.g., student, housewife, or househusband. The modal number of
children in the family was 3, a third were fist-born, a fourth second-born, while 42% were
third or later born. Surprisingly, about half of all these youngsters came from single-parent
homes. Residential stability varied considerably: 35% had moved within the last three
years, 15% felt they moved frequently, but 65% had lived at their current address for at
least 4 years, while 55% reported never having moved. Reported grade-point average
suggests a grade-inflated distribution with nearly 60% above average, 38% average and
only 3% below average. (Other characteristics of these participants will be presented later
along with the descriptive results.)
Survey Instrument
A standardized questionnaire was prepared that reflected different parts of our theoretical
model. The survey instrument was developed, in part, with the help of a ―focus group‖ of a

Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 2 No. 1 1985, Page 62
dozen teenagers who generated appropriate terms and language for the semantic
differential items used. A pilot sample of 150 students from local Catholic and Jewish youth
centers was then used to pre-test the wording of questions and other features of the
survey.
The 50 items of information requested in this self-report survey were organized around four
general classes: pre-contact variables, contact variables, mediational variables, and
outcome measures. Questionnaire format varied within each of these classes of items.
Students responded using check lists, open-ended write-ins, Likert-type response scales,
and semantic differential scales. Some questions had as many as 30 subparts.
Pre-Contact variables
Pre-contact variables relate to predispositions of the respondents and to their knowledge
structure. Fixed predispositions were sex, age, race, religion, and family composition.
Modifiable predispositions included background questions about GPA, geographical mobility,
nature and extent of media exposure, spiritual practices, type of classroom preferred,
shyness, views about authority, and the value of exposure to opposition ideas.
Knowledge structure regarding cults was measured by items that asked the students to
identify if they had heard of any or over 30 listed groups, and whether or not each was a
cult. Descriptions of prototypical cult members were also elicited, as were general
perceptions of groups referred to as cults. Semantic differential subsets were used (with
nine-point equal intervals) to collect these reactions. Thus cults might be: charity
minded/profit minded, non-religious/religious, and so forth. Typical cult members were
described on fifteen semantic differential subsets including: foolish/wise,
responsible/irresponsible, weak/strong, lonely/not lonely, and others. Check lists of the
primary purposes of these groups included both multiple response items, such as: ―to raise
money,‖ ―to improve the world,‖ ―to destroy individual freedom,‖ ―to strengthen the
American family,‖ and eleven others, and also open-ended items for free responses to this,
and other check-list items.
Contact variables. Contact variables were those related to the recruiter‘s strategies and
tactics. The fundamental question that separated our participants into those with and
without contact was: ―Have you been approached by a member of a group that you
thought was a cult?‖ For those who had been contacted, the survey elicited information
about the situation in which that contact had taken place, e.g., public or private, whether
alone or with others. Descriptions of the recruiter and the verbal and non-verbal behaviors
she or he or she used during the contact were also noted by the respondents.
Mediational processes. Mediational processes were indirectly measured by trying to
determine the degree of perceived congruence between the student-respondent and the cult
recruiter, as well as the extent of similarity perceived between the student and prototypical
cult members. A series of questions asked the student‘s reaction to the person who had
made the contact. Some reactions were of a general type: friendly/unfriendly,
afraid/unafraid, interested/disinterested, angry/pleasant. Other items focused on the
recruiter‘s specific verbal and non-verbal aspects that the student felt affected him/her
(either favorably or unfavorably). Among them were: eye contact, enthusiasm, affection,
hand gestures, dress, tone of voice, product being sold, and so forth. Affective reactions
were also elicited to a series of eight items asking about imagines transactions within cults,
such as: if a relative dated a cult member, if parents attended a cult meeting, or if parents
objected to the student‘s joining the group.
Outcome measures. Outcome measures were of three kinds. The most basic question is
that which established whether there had been any contact with a cult recruiter: ―Have you