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

English: The focus of this research was to determine the perceptions of morality among a group of young South Africans. More specifically, the possible roles that gender, culture, lifestyle, religion and sexual practices may play in these perceptions of morality were investigated. To date, relatively few studies have attempted to measure the yout.h's perceptions of morality. Consequently, little South African literature is available. While many variables are believed to influence the development and expression of morality, the variables that were measured in this study included gender, 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 below average with regards to academic performance. Of these schools, three were black schools from Mangaung. The remainder of the schools were found in Bloemfontein, of which two were white Afrikaans schools and two were interracial English schools. An age limit of between 12 and 17 years was imposed. After statistical analysis, the variable found to have the greatest influence on the perception of morality was gender. A core finding of this study was that the female learner's responses point towards a higher level of morality than the male learners do. This study also found cultural differences with regards to morality. Frequency of religious practices was also found to have an influence on moral expression. The study also indicated that past sexual experience has an effect on the perception and expression of morality. Lifestyle was not found to be a significant factor in the perception of morality significant in this study. The results of the research will help to give clearer understanding of the youth's perception of morality, which could then be incorporated into combating immorality, for example, through developing programmes in this regard. For future and especially comparative purposes, the findings of this study could also serve as a base-line measurement of the perceptions of morality among the South African youth should one wish to determine to what extent these perceptions are static or dynamic. Without a doubt, the issue of morality is indeed contentious and controversial. And while we may argue 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.