Résumé
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the Values, Influences, and Peers (VIP) program (Ministry of Education, 1984) on the attitudes of adolescents toward the police. The contributions of gender and grade (age) to the adolescents' attitudes also were examined. With a view toward providing further information about the long term effects of the VIP program on attitude formation, the study also examined the attitudes of adolescents toward the police-relevant concerns of law and order problems, police programs, and personal safety. The data were obtained from Horrobin's (1994) Community Youth Needs and Concerns Survey of 1,221 students enrolled in grades 9 through 13 from 15 high schools in a medium-sized southwestern Ontario metropolitan area. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVAs), using program (VIP/non-VIP experience), gender, and grade as independent variables, were performed on the 1,134 response scores utilized in the present study. The results were interpreted as indicating that there are meaningful attitudinal differences between VIP and non-VIP adolescents and as providing support for the continued use of VIP intervention with Grade 6 populations. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)