Morality in Cyberspace: A Comparison of Chinese and U.S. Youth´s Beliefs about Acceptable Online Behavior

This cross-cultural comparison of approximately 600 youth in China and 600 youth in the U.S. focused on the moral values, acceptability of a variety of morally questionable online behaviors, and the relationship between moral values and acceptability of online behaviors. Findings indicated differences both in moral values and in behaviors that Chinese and U.S. youth believed were acceptable in the virtual world. Chinese youth found more behaviors acceptable than did U.S. youth, with the exception of videogame violence, which U.S. youth found more acceptable. The value placed on peer approval predicted the acceptability of morally questionable online behaviors, suggesting that a peer culture supporting such behaviors may account for their acceptability among Chinese youth. Educational interventions designed to reduce morally questionable online behaviors by taking cultural values into account are discussed, as is the need for additional research to establish a link between beliefs about acceptability and actual online behaviors.