Psychology

It's wrong, but everybody does it: Academic dishonesty among high school and college students

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Academic cheating has become a widespread problem among high school and college students. In this study, 490 students (ages 14 to 23) evaluated the acceptability of an act of academic dishonesty under 19 different circumstances where a person's motive for transgressing differed. Students' evaluations were related to self-reports of cheating behavior, sex, school grade, and psychological variables. Results indicated that high school and college students took motives into account when evaluating the acceptability of academic cheating. Cheating behavior was more common among those who evaluated cheating leniently, among male students, and among high schoolers. Also, acceptance of cheating and cheating behavior were negatively related to self-restraint, but positively related to tolerance of deviance. The results are discussed with reference to biological, cultural, and developmental factors. © 2001 Elsevier Science (USA).

Publication Title

Contemporary Educational Psychology

Publication Date

2002

Volume

27

Issue

2

First Page

209

Last Page

228

ISSN

0361-476X

DOI

10.1006/ceps.2001.1088

Keywords

student cheating, grading of students, school psychology

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