| dc.description.abstract | This study was an attempt to determine whether there
are factors related to student dating which can be associated with
the level of students’ academic performance, and, if any exist,
to establish the nature of these factors and to determine and
explain this association or relationship.
The sample was drawn from students in the final (third)
year of their B.A. course. The sample included both men and
women. It was drawn from the Potchefstroom University for
C.H.E. and the University of Pretoria.
The results indicated a definite relationship between
certain aspects of students' dating and their academic success.
The most important observation concerned the dating
pattern: Students who classified themselves as having a steady
date (going steady) almost without exception obtained higher
marks than could have been expected from their academic aptitude.
(Matriculation results were used as an indication of this sample's
academic aptitude, having been statistically proved to bear the
highest correlation with their actual academic performance.)
The academic performance of students who did date but who did
not have a steady date was, in almost every case, found to be
poorer than could have been expected from their academic aptitude.
Many indications were found that these two groups of
students do not only differ regarding the level of their academic
performance but also as regards a number of other characteristics,
the development of which, of course, may very well have
been further stimulated by the nature of their specific dating
patterns.
The academic performance of students who did not date
at all was found to be, in some cases, slightly poorer, and, in
other instances, slightly better than could have been expected;
no definite pattern emerged.
Some other aspects of student dating proved, in some
cases, to have a significant relationship with students’ academic
performance. These were: the length of the period (number of
years) for which they had been going steady and the time (average
in hours per week) spent on dating activities.
Where students of the two universities were concerned,
certain differences in the relationship between their dating
behaviour and academic performance were observed.
Only very slight differences were observed between the
two sexes as far as the relationship between these two variables
are concerned.
The study shed more light on the problem of factors
associated with students' academic success by presenting an
analysis of the influence of certain aspects of dating behaviour
on the level of students’ academic performance.
Furthermore it served to elucidate the role of dating as
a significant part of student life, and the influence of certain
dating patterns and other variables associated with dating on
many aspects of their university life, including their academic
performance. | en_US |
