Relationship between Rational Parenting and the Future-oriented and Self-control Characteristics with Ethical Behaviors of Higher Secondary School Students in a Government School, Chumphon Province

Abstract

This study aims to 1) examine the level of ethical behaviors of students, 2) compare the ethical behaviors of students classified by gender identity and grade level, and 3) explore the relationship between rational parenting and future-oriented and self-control characteristics with the ethical behaviors of students. Participants were 241 high school students from a government school in Chumphon Province.  Instruments were a personal information questionnaire, a rational parenting questionnaire, a future-oriented characteristics questionnaire, a self-control questionnaire, and an ethical behavior questionnaire.   Statistics used in the data analysis included frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, standard deviation, one-way analysis of variance, and Pearson's correlation coefficient.  Findings revealed that 1) the ethical behavior level of high school students was high in all four domains. The highest mean was honesty ( = 4.38, SD = 0.49), followed by gratitude ( = 4.38, SD = 0.72), discipline and responsibility (  = 4.01, SD = 0.60). and the desire for knowledge ( = 3.71, SD = 0.66). The ethical behavior of secondary school students was (  =4.10, SD = 0.58), indicating high ethical behavior. 2) Female high school students had higher ethical behavior than male students at .01 statistically significant level. The ethical behaviors of high school students in grade 6 were higher than grade 4 at .01 statistically significant level. 3) Rational parenting has a positive relationship with ethical behavior at a .01 statistically significant level with a correlation coefficient equal to .395, and 4) future-oriented and self-control characteristics had a positive relationship with ethical behaviors at a .01 statistically significant level with a correlation coefficient of .426.