Author(s)

Fei Jiang

Corresponding Author

Fei Jiang

ABSTRACT

This article examined American youth’s moral values using Wave VI of World Values Survey data. The facts and impact factors of American youth moral values were analysed. SPSS22.0 was applied for data analysis. The following four aspects were explored to discover the facts and reasons of American youth’s moral values. First, factor analysis was administered to compare and analyse American youth moral values by examining their attitudes towards immoral behaviors. American youth’s moral values were eventually divided into two categories basing on their attitudes towards “deceptive or violent behaviors” and “sexual or extreme behaviors”. Second, American youth’s acceptance level of deceptive and violent behaviours was analysed separately, and found that young people had a higher acceptance level of “sexual or extreme behavior”. Thirdly, potential influencing factors including “education level”, “income level” and “the attitude towards traditional customs” were testified to be significant factors influencing the moral values of American youth. Fourthly, this paper tried to explore the reasons explaining the current status of American youth’s moral values. Social environment background and multicultural background were mainly considered as the cause of the facts of the moral values among US youngsters. Some notable developing trends were discussed at the end of this paper.

KEYWORDS

American youth, Moral values, facts, reasons, world values survey