Examining the Relation between Social Values Perception and Moral Maturity Level of Folk Dancers

The purpose of the present study is to examine the relation between social values perceptions and moral maturity levels of folk dancers, and evaluate this relation in terms of some variables. The relational screening model was used in the study. The “Multi-dimensional Social Values Scale†, which was developed by Bolat (2013), and the “Moral Maturity Scale†, which was developed by Åžengün and Kaya (2007), were used as the data collection tools. The sampling of the study consisted of 251 volunteering individuals who were selected with the Random Selection Technique from among the individuals who participated in Interuniversity Folk Dances Championship in 2016-2017. In the scope of the study, the descriptive statistics were computed for social values perceptions and moral maturity levels of the folk dancers. In evaluating the data of the study, frequencies and percentage distributions were used as statistical method. In addition, the t-test was used for paired groups, the one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) was used for multiple groups, and the Pearson Correlation Analysis was used to detect the relation between the variables. The p value of significance was taken as 0,05 in different tests.When the findings of the study were examined, it was determined that the social value perceptions and moral maturity levels of the folk dancers who participated in Interuniversity Folk Dances Championship were at a high level, and there was a significant relation in positive direction between the perceptions in all sub-dimensions of the Multi-Dimensional Social Values Scale and the moral maturity levels of the participants. In this context, it is possible to claim that as the moral maturity levels of the folk dancers increase, so do their social values perceptions. When the social value perceptions were analyzed in terms of sub-dimensions, it was determined that the highest perception was in religious values sub-dimension, and the lowest perception was detected in political values. When the findings of the study were analyzed in terms of demographical variables, it was determined that there were significant differences between some of the sub-dimensions of the Social Values Scale and the “gender, the faculty studied at, folk dances experience, income level and the place where the participant spend most of his/her life†variables.Â