A Study on the Relationship between Family Values and Selected Clothing Behaviors for a Group of College Women

The purpose of this study was to investigate between locus of control, body cathexis and four aspects of clothing behavior. Locus of control was measured by Rotter's The Internal-External Scale and body cathexis by Secord and Jourard's Body Cathexis Scale. Two aspects of clothing behavior were assessed with Lee's questionnaires dealing with status symbol and clothing satisfaction. Clothing Acceptance I was determined with questionnaires designed to measure the acceptance of color and casual wear and Clothing Acceptance II by line drawings of clothing representing formal type, informal type, and new mode type designed to measure the acceptance of business suits. The questionnaires in this study were administered to a sample of men (between 20 to more than 60 years of age) in Seoul. The data from 303 respondents were analyzed. The results were: 1) Locus of control was not related to Clothing Acceptance I(acceptance of color and casual wear), but positively related to Clothing Acceptance II(acceptance of business suit), that is, the persons having wider latitudes of acceptance in business suits were internally controlled in locus of control. 2) Locus of control was negatively related to status symbol, that is, the persons having higher concepts in status symbol were externally controlled in locus of control. 3) Body cathexis was positively related to clothing satisfaction, that is, the persons having higher satisfaction toward their clothing were more satisfied with their body.