The attitudes of young male learners towards abortion.
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Date
2010
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Abstract
Abortion is one of the issues that elicits relatively controversial debates around the globe.
These debates revolve around the pro-life and pro-choice stances, moral and religious issues,
backstreet abortion, the role of fathers in decision-making and constitutional issues, among
others. Therefore, there is a variety of factors that may influence the way individuals perceive
abortion. Race, religious affiliation, and religiosity have been found to play a role in
determining the attitudes of individuals towards abortion. For instance, racial and religious
differences in abortion attitudes among the South African public are reported (Patel, Ramgoon
& Paruk, 2009; Rule, 2004). However, research on attitudes towards abortion demonstrates its
complex nature and provides somewhat conflicting evidence. Varga (2002) makes the point
that while it is important to understand both male and female perspectives on abortion, very
little is known about boys‟ attitudes towards abortion, thus the motivation for this research
study. Consequently, the aim of this study was to investigate the attitudes of young male
learners towards abortion taking into consideration their race, religion and religiosity. Findings
indicate that young male learners generally have high religiosity levels and show negative
attitudes towards abortion across race and religion. The religious and racial differences in
abortion attitudes of male learners were also explored and revealed significant differences
amongst the groups, with the Islamic group obtaining the highest levels of abortion opposition
for different reasons when compared to Africans and Hindus. In line with past research (Patel
& Johns, 2009; Patel & Kooverjee, 2009; Patel & Myeni, 2008), these findings indicate that the
higher the religiosity level, the more negative the attitudes towards abortion.
Description
Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2010.
Keywords
Teenage boys--Attitudes., Abortion--South Africa--Public opinion., Abortion--South Africa--Psychological aspects., Abortion--Social aspects--South Africa., Abortion--Religious aspects., Abortion--Moral and ethical aspects--South Africa., Theses--Psychology.