The influence of religious beliefs on bullying and cheating among secondary school students in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study examines the influence of religious beliefs on the perceptions on bullying and cheating among students in Hong Kong. 727 secondary school students (age 16 to 18) were involved as participants. Data collection utilized validated measures of religious beliefs, bullying, and cheating. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the data and investigate the proposed relationships. Results suggested students who demonstrated high religious faith seemed to have negative attitude towards academic cheating, but religious faith did not seem to have any significant influence on students' academic cheating behaviors and other unethical behaviors, such as bullying. These findings underscore the importance of religious education in schools as it is still beneficial for students to have high religious faith so that they may feel repulsive to adherent behaviors in order not to develop positive attitude towards cheating and bullying.