A comparison of attitudes and final grades among freshman dental students.

A study was conducted to determine if a change in dental students' attitudes toward three preselected concepts would occur as a result of a traditionally difficult gross anatomy course. In addition, an attempt was made to determine the predictive value of a student's attitudes in determining his or her final grade. The study employed Campbell and Stanley's one group pretest-posttest design. The results indicated that students' attitudes toward a difficult course and themselves did not change significantly, but that a significant negative change did occur in their attitude toward the entire dental educational experience. The results also indicated that students' attitudes toward specific concepts can be successfully employed to predict a portion of their final grade.