A STUDY OF THE VALUE ORIENTED BEHAVIOR OF ADOLESCENTS BASED ON THEIR GENDER

The paper uses the premise of Difference in the Kohlberg and Giligan's Theories on Moral Development in male and females that states that male and female are differs when it comes to perceiving a situation and reacting to it. Kohlberg's theory proposes that the changes in moral development occurring at various stages are mainly due to critical thinking in both male and that post-conventional stage is not attained by females. Whereas, Gilligan's theory contests that no postconventional level of moral thinking can be dealt based on the two types of thinking. She also said that Kohlberg's theory is only limited few moral values and does not consider the other values that are equally important in development of an individual's character and personality. This paper examines the gender differences in the fundamental value orientations of adolescent students from class Eight. It focuses on the values such as Peace, Compassion, Truth, Patience and Perseverance thathave remained as constants in the human condition throughout the centuries.Since the cognitive and other developments required to understand and practice these values develop post middle childhood adolescents were chosen as sample for this study. A Descriptive Survey method was used to collect data from 193 students from class eight of English medium State Board schools across Mumbai. The tool used was a situational analysis survey scale on their Value Oriented Behavior. The Descriptive Analysis of the data was conducted using - Mean, SD, Skewness and Kurtosis. The Inferential Analysis was carried outwith ‘t' test.Through the study it was found that there is a significant difference in the value oriented behavior of adolescents on the basis of their gender.