A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology at the Department of Psychology at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2011. / The field of moral reasoning has been surrounded by controversy. A lot of research has been done on the subject and a lot of theorists have differed much on thoughts, ideas and on how does an individual become a morally reasoning being. Our decisions pertaining certain issues are generally informed by our morals, values and beliefs. As we develop and grow in our respective societies, one discovers that how generally the society believes and views certain matters influence how one personally views the issue. Schools are especially one of the playgrounds that children enter into and form relationships with their peers. Inevitably they start to look at certain issues through the eyes of their peers. One may ask, what then happens to what the individual was raised to believe and know as wrong or right. This study seeks to understand the relationship between moral reasoning and sex guilt to premarital sex in adolescents in high schools. A sample of 40 participants was randomly selected for the study which comprised of 16 females and 24 males. The results indicated that there is no relationship between premarital sex and sex guilt to premarital sex in adolescents. The methodology used and the results found are interpreted and explained in the study.

Fictional narratives of 68 female undergraduates classified as either high or low on sex-guilt were rated for libidinal content following subliminal exposure to either a sex-related or a neutral stimulus. Separate dependent measures were obtained for libidinal derivatives bearing either a transparently "close" or a symbolically "distant" relationship to the sex-related stimulus. Subjects in the sex-related stimulus condition expressed significantly fewer close libidinal derivatives than subjects in the neutral condition. High sex-guilt subjects' distant derivative production revealed a near-significant trend toward repression in the neutral condition, but the greatest amount of expression in the sex-related condition. Type of defenses employed are discussed as a function of subliminally perceived stimulus threat.