Reflection on their Drawings of Personality Characteristics and Attitudes towards Violent Programs of Secondary School Students based on Gender Variable

Abstract

The aim of the research is to determine the attitudes of secondary school students towards the violent programs and to compare in terms of gender variable the results obtained by identifying the personality characteristics of the students through signs and symbols used in the pictures drawn in the qualitative dimension of the research. the research was conducted with convergent parallel design from mixed method research designs. the t test was used to analyze the attitude scores obtained in the quantitative dimension of the research. in the qualitative dimension of the research, the semiotic analysis technique consisting of three dimensions as icon, sign and symbol was used. the study group of the research is composed of 127 (61 female, 66 male) secondary school students who are studying in 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade of a secondary school in the Black Sea Region. Quantitative data were obtained by using the attitude scale towards violent programs developed by the researcher while qualitative data were obtained by drawing an abstract or concrete concept that students likened to their personality characteristics. the results of the research show that female students are less exposed to violent programs than male students and those female students are not affected by negative behaviors in violent programs. on the other hand, it has been found that male students partially model negative behaviors in such programs in their daily lives and violent behaviors they watch in programs when they are in difficult situations. It is thought that media literacy aiming to protect children and adolescents from adverse effects of the media in line with the results of the study should be taught as a compulsory course by adapting to the levels of all age groups in order to raise awareness of the children from the beginning of the school.