Chapter 27.    Age, Sex, and Educational Level

AGE

BECAUSE MOST RESPONDENTS were young, only two age ranges could be used for analysis purposes, namely, those younger than 25 (72 percent of the sample) and those 25 or older (28 percent of the sample).
Overall, the age variable was not particularly significant. Twenty-three analyses were significant at the .05 level, where about 19 would be expected by chance; and 5 were significant at the .01 level, when 4 would be expected by chance. None were significant at the .001 level. This may result from the restricted range. Thus many of the differences summarized below are probably artifactual. These differences must be regarded primarily as possible guides to further research, rather than as solid findings.
Table 27-1 summarizes significant differences in frequency of occurrence of 18 various effects, and Table 27-2 summarizes 10 significant differences in minimal level of intoxication. General frequency of occurrence data is also presented in the usual type style code.

MALE AND FEMALE

Forty-nine percent of the respondents were males, 27 percent were females. The rest could not be classified because of a clerical error that omitted the sex blank on some of the questionnaires.
Overall, the sex variable was not very significant. Twenty-five analyses were significant at the .05 level when about 19 would be expected by chance, and only one was significant at the .01 level, when about four would be expected by chance. The differences summarized in Table 27-3 and 27-4 should be taken only as guidelines for further research.
Overall frequencies of occurrence are coded in the tables by the usual type style convention.

EDUCATIONAL LEVEL

Seventy-two percent of the users were in college or had a bachelor's degree of some sort. Twenty-one percent were in graduate school or had advanced degrees (M.A., M.S., M.D., Ed.D., or Ph.D.). These are the College-educated and the Professional groups, respectively, in our analysis. Seven percent of the users were in various educational level groups too small to be analyzable.
Educational level was a significant background variable. Thirty-four analyses were significant at the .05 level instead of the 19 expected by chance, and 11 at the .01 level, rather than the four expected by chance Thus many of the differences summarized in the following two tables are potentially replicable findings as well as guides to research.
Tables 27-5 and 27-6 summarize significant differences in frequency of occurrence and minimal level of intoxication, respectively. General frequency of occurrence data is preserved in the type style code.
Although it is risky to comment on the overall patterning of results when a fair number of them may be due to chance, there is a general pattern of the College-educated having more sensory enhancement types of experiences.