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Volume :15 Issue : 1 1987
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University Students’ Values: A Cross-Cultural Study
Auther : Hassan Eissa , Masry A. Hannourah
This research attempts to discover the prevailing values among university students. Human occupy a central position in one’s personality and cognitive system. In this study values are defined as preferable judgment acts. They represent a frame of reference which controls the behavior of the person, both in his personal and public life. A distinction is made between values, on one hand, and attitudes, interests, personality traits and other types of behavior on the other.
The study is based on the value analysis of student autobiographies. Value classification was performed using the techniques of White (1947), Kazem (1962) and Rokeach (1973). The sample for this study consisted of 70 students from Kuwait University (Kuwait) and 70 students from El-Minia University (Egypt). The two groups came from the upper middle class and the difference between their socio-economic levels was insignificant. The age range for the two samples varied from 19 to 22 years.
The results reveal significant differences between the means of each value for the two groups. By using factor analysis , it is also possible to show a socio-cultural classification of values. A Bedouin factor is discovered for the Kuwaiti group and a rural factor for the Egyptian group.