An Exploratory Study of Upper Elementary School Students' Love Attitudes and Needs for Love Education

• Main Authors: CHANG, YEN-FEN, 張硯棻
• Other Authors: Shu-Sum Ng
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/11851845294942165658

碩士 === 國立臺北護理健康大學 === 生死教育與輔導研究所 === 101 === Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore upper elementary school students’ love attitudes and needs for love education. This research adopted a questionnaire survey method and was based on stratified purposive sampling. A total of 298, 5th- and 6th-grade students in an elementary school, where the researcher is a teacher, participated in this study and completed the questionnaire named “Why love is love”. Results were analyzed with descriptive statistics, independent t-test, ANOVA, and multiple linear regression to determine the relationships among different variables such as background information, love experiences, and love attitudes which were later classified into six different types. This study also further explored students’ attitudes toward and needs for love education and their views on the content of love education. The results of this study are summarized as below: 1.Love attitudes of students Among the six different love attitudes, storge has the highest percentage, followed by pragma. This indicates that the majority of students hold a love attitude that love emerges from friendship, then gradually advances to pure campus love through daily interactions; and yet there is still a practical consideration involved in choosing lovers. This kind of love attitude which combines friendship and rationality is characteristic for this group of upper elementary school students. 2.The relation between love attitudes and each variable (1) Male students have a higher tendency than female students on agape. (2) 5th -grade students have a higher tendency than 6th-grade students on eros, pragma and mania. (3) Those with higher self-evaluation on academic performance in the top 1/3 have higher tendency than the middle 1/3 to hold ludus. (4) Those who have positive attitudes about love tend to hold eros, storge, mania and agape. (5) Those currently in love (including stable relationship, still ambiguous, unrequited love, a secret crush on someone) tend to hold eros, storge, mania and agape. (6) Those with more love experiences tend to hold eros, mania and agape. (7) Those with the first love since 4th-grade tend to hold eros, storge, mania and agape. (8) Those who already have dating experience tend to hold eros, storge, and agape. (9) Those experiencing an affair during a relationship tend to hold eros, mania and agape. (10) Those having failure experience in love tend to hold eros, mania and agape. (11) Those who can accept the intimacy such as lip kissing tend to hold eros and mania. 3.Multiple linear regression for love attitudes (1) Those holding higher acceptance about love and currently falling in love tend to hold eros, storge, mania and agape. (2) 5th-grade students have a higher tendency than 6th-grade students on eros and mania. (3) Male students have a higher tendency than female students on agape. (4) Those with higher self-evaluation on academic performance in the top 1/3 have more tendency than the middle 1/3 and the bottom 1/3 to hold storge. 4.The needs for love education Almost half of the responding students expressed an interest in learning love education and hoped that the school could offer love education courses. More than half of the students recognized the importance of learning how to deal with love in elementary school education. About the topics on love education, “the nature of love” is the most preferred one, followed by “loyalty in love”. With regard to the preferred teaching method, teaching through movies and pop songs have the highest ratings. The last part of the study is to provide an example in which the students voted for their top-ranking movies, pop songs, idol dramas and cartoons to analyze the nature of six love attitudes and explain how to apply media in love education. This study intends to enhance teachers’ and parents’ understanding on such matters and provide a reference for teachers and schools who are willing to engage in love education to design an effective love education curriculum. Key words: love attitude, love education, love, upper elementary school students