Forms of Character Across Cultures: Initial Analysis from a Global Survey of Outward Bound Schools

Authors

  • Kimia Shirzad The Pennsylvania State University
  • Pete Allison The Pennsylvania State University
  • Sarah Wiley Outward Bound International

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18666/JOREL-2025-12500

Keywords:

Character development, moral character, performance character, civic character, Outward Bound schools

Abstract

Character often remains ambiguous, particularly within cross-cultural youth programs, underscoring the necessity for extensive context-specific research on the concept of character. This study explores character values across eight cultural-geographic locations, collecting data through an online survey from educators of Outward Bound schools in 17 countries (n=105). Participants chose up to five character qualities that they believed are most important to be nurtured in adolescents. Three subscales of moral, civic, and performance character were measured by adding the frequencies of their indicators. Descriptive statistics and Fisher exact test were applied to analyze the data, revealing a significant association between moral character and cultural-geographic groups (p=.022); no such association was found in performance and civic character. Findings contribute to a cross-cultural understanding of character and offer initial insights to educators and program designers in considering cultural context when addressing character development in educational settings. 

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Published

2025-10-16

Issue

Vol. 18 No. 1 (2026)

Section

Regular Papers

License

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