The perceptions of morality of secondary school learners: a cross-cultural study

[摘要] English: The focus of this research was to determine the perceptions of morality among a group of youngSouth Africans. More specifically, the possible roles that gender, culture, lifestyle, religion andsexual practices may play in these perceptions of morality were investigated. To date, relativelyfew studies have attempted to measure the yout.h's perceptions of morality. Consequently, littleSouth African literature is available. While many variables are believed to influence thedevelopment and expression of morality, the variables that were measured in this study includedgender, culture, lifestyle, sexual experience and religion, as found in literature.Seven schools were involved in this study. They were classified as being high, average and belowaverage with regards to academic performance. Of these schools, three were black schools fromMangaung. The remainder of the schools were found in Bloemfontein, of which two were whiteAfrikaans schools and two were interracial English schools. An age limit of between 12 and 17years was imposed.After statistical analysis, the variable found to have the greatest influence on the perception ofmorality was gender. A core finding of this study was that the female learner's responses pointtowards a higher level of morality than the male learners do. This study also found culturaldifferences with regards to morality. Frequency of religious practices was also found to have aninfluence on moral expression. The study also indicated that past sexual experience has an effecton the perception and expression of morality. Lifestyle was not found to be a significant factor inthe perception of morality significant in this study.The results of the research will help to give clearer understanding of the youth's perception ofmorality, which could then be incorporated into combating immorality, for example, throughdeveloping programmes in this regard. For future and especially comparative purposes, thefindings of this study could also serve as a base-line measurement of the perceptions of moralityamong the South African youth should one wish to determine to what extent these perceptions arestatic or dynamic.Without a doubt, the issue of morality is indeed contentious and controversial. And while we mayargue its origin, nature and influence, morality is as important now as it ever was, if not more so.For this reason then, morality in South Africa needs to be further investigated.

[发布机构] University of the Free State