Our Centers for Ethics:
South Dakota Survey Results, 1998-2000
The students in grades 7-12 reported improvements in the three main categories: illegal acts, rulebreaking, and behavior toward others. The dropoff in illegal acts was especially marked. At the same time, students indicated a decline in positive behaviors, and their responses to attitude questions were mixed.
Since the sample sizes varied each year, the figures below appear as percentages. There are two main points to note about them:
1) The percentages refer to the total number of respondents, not to the number who answered the question. Since some people occasionally omitted a response, the results do not always add up to 100 percent.
2) The improvements appear as percentages of the first-year percent. So if “drank an alcoholic beverage” drops from 48 percent to 33 percent, the drop is 15 percent. The percentage improvement is then 15/48, or 31 percent.
The behavioral questions began, “In the past six months I have ...”
1. Illegal acts. The following percentage of students stated that, at least once in the past six months, they had:
Drunk an alcoholic beverage
1998 48%
1999 38%
2000 33%
The drop from 48 percent in 1998 to 33 percent in 2000 represents a 31 percent decline.
Used an illegal drug
1998 22%
1999 18%
2000 15%
The drop from 22 percent in 1998 to 15 percent in 2000 is a 32 percent decline
Used a fake ID
1998 9%
1999 6%
2000 4%
The drop from 9 percent in 1998 to 4 percent in 2000 is a 56 percent reduction.
Defaced or vandalized property
1998 26%
1999 17%
2000 14%
The drop from 26 percent in 1998 to 14 percent in 2000 represents a 46 percent decline.
Broken into another’s property
1998 12%
1999 7%
2000 6%
The drop from 12 percent in 1998 to 6 percent in 2000 is a 50 percent decline.
Taken something without paying
1998 35%
1999 23%
2000 19%
The drop from 35 percent in 1998 to 19 percent in 2000 is a 46 percent falloff.
What do these findings mean in absolute terms? Benchmarked against the smallest per year student sample of 6,156, they indicate:
- 985 fewer students took something without paying
- 369 fewer broke into another’s property
- 923 fewer drank an alcoholic beverage
- 431 fewer used an illegal drug
- 246 fewer used a fake ID
- 739 fewer vandalized property
These figures alone indicate a substantial drop in crime. Hence they show a savings to all the people of South Dakota in the costs of police, judicial process, and simple suffering. And of course they derive just from the experimental sample.
2. Rulebreaking. Students said they had done the following at least once:
Cheated on an exam
1998 57%
1999 53%
2000 40%
The self-reported percentage of students cheating fell 30 percent.
Let someone copy my work
1998 84%
1999 78%
2000 62%
The percentage of such students declined by 26 percent, or about a quarter.
Late for class without a legitimate excuse
1998 45%
1999 40%
2000 34%
The percentage of these tardy students dropped by 24 percent.
Missed class without a legitimate excuse
1998 23%
1999 21%
2000 16%
The decline is 30 percent.
Received a detention or suspension
1998 39%
1999 38%
2000 28%
The reduction is 28 percent.
Failed to get my schoolwork done on time
1998 80%
1999 71%
2000 61%
The decline is 24 percent.
Here too students report substantial drops in all categories.
3. Behavior toward other people. Students admitted that, at least once in the past six months, they had:
Used physical force against someone who insulted me
1998 49%
1999 34%
2000 33%
The percentage of such students dropped 33 percent.
Told a lie to a parent
1998 83%
1999 73%
2000 70%
The percentage of these students declined 16 percent.
Told a lie to a teacher
1998 52%
1999 46%
2000 34%
The reduction is 35 percent.
Teased someone because of race or ethnicity
1998 20%
1999 14%
2000 11%
The percentage of these students dropped 45 percent.
Broken a promise to someone
1998 75%
1999 68%
2000 66%
The decline, from 75 percent to 66, is 12 percent.
Borrowed money without repaying it
1998 50%
1999 42%
2000 33%
This is a 34 percent reduction.
Again, every category declined. The drops vary more here, swinging between 12 and 45 percent.
4. Positive Behavior. The evaluation form asked about three kinds of positive behavior, and scores worsened on all of them.
Volunteered to do something in the community
1998 74%
1999 69%
2000 67%
According to evaluator Marcey Moss, there are at least two possible reasons for this decline. 1) The sample was younger in 2000. There were fewer high schoolers and 5 percent more middle schoolers, and middle schoolers not only do less community work, but lack cars to drive around in. 2) More students were participating in activities overall, so they would have had less time for volunteer work.
Helped someone study for an exam
1998 87.4%
1999 84.5%
2000 82.9%
The greater participation in activities may also have affected this score.
Told the truth though it might get me in trouble
1998 83.8%
1999 83.8%
2000 80.8%
5. Attitude. Four of the attitude measures showed improvement and seven did not.
One statistically significant increase occurred with, “Sometimes it’s okay to respond to an insult with physical force”:
Strongly Disagree Unsure Agree Strongly
Disagree Agree
1998 25% 33% 18.6% 7.6% 15.3%
1999 25% 37.9% 16.6% 16.2% 4.2%
2000 25.3% 36.7% 18.9% 14.9% 4.2%
Combined, the "agrees" and "strongly agrees" decreased by 17 percent. Intriguingly, in the parallel question about behavior, actual student use of force in response to an insult dropped 33 percent, from 49 to 33 percent. Why didn't the attitude change to a corresponding degree? It’s uncertain, but plainly more students had used force than felt justified in doing so. Perhaps CHARACTER COUNTS! made more inroads among kids who already knew force was wrong.
There are three other attitude improvements, each statistically significant:
“It’s okay to lie or cheat to avoid unfair consequences.” |
Disagree or Strongly Disagree |
1998 |
54.3% |
1999 |
59.1% |
2000 |
61.7% |
“People who cheat are more likely to succeed.” |
|
1998 |
39.9% |
1999 |
68.1% |
2000 |
71% |
“I believe honesty is the best policy” |
Agree or Strongly Agree |
1998 |
75.8% |
1999 |
78.6% |
2000 |
79.4% |
The remaining seven attitude measures showed little or negative change. They are: “It’s okay to lie on an application for a good job,” “It’s okay to use people as long as they aren’t hurt,” “It’s okay to do anything to succeed if no one is hurt,” “In today’s world, people must often lie or cheat to succeed,” “There is no moral responsibility to help other people,” “When I see something wrong, I should try to do something,” and “People should do the right thing even if it’s not in their best interest.” It's important to realize that most students took ethical positions on these statements at the outset. The percentage simply didn’t rise.
6. Age. For illegal acts, the study broke down results by age. Older kids committed more crime, as the researchers had expected. At the same time, middle school kids, those 13 or younger, report a slightly higher rate of improvement than older students.
Drank alcohol
13 or younger
1998 30%
1999 20%
2000 15.6%
14 or 15
1998 52%
1999 43%
2000 39.4%
16 or older
1998 67%
1999 56%
2000 54.8%
Used an illegal drug
13 or younger
1998 7%
1999 6%
2000 4.3%
14 or 15
1998 26%
1999 20%
2000 18.1%
16 or older
1998 36%
1999 30%
2000 28.8%
Used a fake ID
13 or younger
1998 4%
1999 3%
2000 1.7%
14 or 15
1998 10%
1999 6%
2000 4.5%
16 or older
1998 12%
1999 10%
2000 6.8%
Defaced property
13 or younger
1998 20%
1999 13%
2000 9.8%
14 or 15
1998 30%
1999 18%
2000 17%
16 or older
1998 29%
1999 21%
2000 19.1
Broke into property
13 or younger
1998 8%
1999 5%
2000 3.7%
14 or 15
1998 13%
1999 8%
2000 7.4%
16 or older
1998 14%
1999 9%
2000 7.44%
Stole something
13 or younger
1998 25%
1999 16%
2000 11%
14 or 15
1998 41%
1999 26%
2000 22.2%
16 or older
1998 40%
1999 28%
2000 26%
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