Adolescents' moral dilemmas: The context

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology which outlines the kinds of real-life moral dilemmas adolescents spontaneously present in open-ended semiclinical interviews. A coding procedure is introduced which delineates three aspects of these moral dilemmas, conflicts, context, and content, and an analysis is done of the category labeled context. One hundred forty-eight adolescents from two school settings were interviewed. The results show that the majority of both boys and girls in these samples describe moral conflicts in the context of a relationship, particularly involving friends. However, boys are more likely than girls to focus on the the self as the context of the moral dilemma with no other relational context present and significantly more girls than boys focus on relationships rather than self.The authors thank the Dodge, Klingenstein and Kendall Foundations for funding these studies.Her Ed.D. is from Harvard University, M.Ed. from Boston University, and A.B. from Ohio University. She was the Project Director for Carol Gilligan on a coed high-school study. Her present research interests are preservice teacher training and women's development.She is the Project Director of a longitudinal study of moral and social development in female children and adolescents and is the editor ofA Guide to Reading Narratives of Moral Conflict and Choice for Self and Moral Voice. Her Ed.D. is from Harvard University and B.A. is from Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas. Her research focuses on a developmental analysis of narratives of relationship in girls.Her B.A. is from Brown University and her research interests are in female development and children of alcoholics.     

Gender and developmental differences in adolescents' conceptions of moral reasoning

Eighth graders, 11th graders, and college sophomores wrote open-ended essays that characterized their own approaches to moral reasoning. Their essays were scored for the presence of various themes. Students also responded to three dilemmas from the Defining Issues Test (Rest, 1979). Students then rated their own use of justice and care orientations in moral reasoning, using a previously developed instrument (Ford and Lowery, 1986; Lyons, 1983). Characterizations of moral reasoning became more multifaceted and thorough with grade, and correlated with many traditional measures of moral reasoning. Males and females showed some, but relatively few, differences in characterizing their own moral reasoning, although females tended to respond more thoroughly to the open-ended task. Gender differences, when they occurred, were mostly found on measures that assessed so-called feminine issues or concerns, but not on traditional measures of moral reasoning. Characterizations of moral reasoning clustered into five dimensions, raising questions about the utility of the constructs of justice and care orientations.The first and third authors received financial support from a Ford-Mellon grant made to Carleton College. Results of this study were presented at the 1990 meeting of the Society for Research in Adolescence.Received Ph.D. in Psychology and M.S.E. in Computer and Information Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, and has research interests in the development of reasoning skills, decision making, and conceptual development.Received Ph.D. in Counseling and Guidance from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and has research interests in adolescent development and adolescent psychopathology.Received B.A. in Psychology from Carleton College in 1990. Has interests in adolescence and chemical dependence.     

Gender differences in self-reported moral reasoning: A review and new evidence

Sixty-four undergraduates wrote responses to the question, “When faced with a moral dilemma, what issues or concerns influence your decision?” The responses were coded according to one or more of 13 themes by independent raters blind to the subjects' gender. Six of the themes were identified as “feminine” themes and seven as “masculine” themes on the basis of previous work by Gilligan ([1982],In a Different Voice, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts), Kohlberg ([1976], “Moral Stages and Moralization: The Cognitive-Developmental Approach,” in Lickona, T. [ed.],Moral Development and Behavior: Theory, Research, and social Issues, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York), and others. Only one association between gender and the presence of any given theme reached statistical significance: Thus, there is little evidence to support the idea that men and women differ in their reports of how they think about moral dilemmas. For all subjects, the average proportion of possible feminine themes in a response was higher than the proportion of possible masculine themes. This finding supports the idea than an exclusive focus on themes such as rights and responsibilities will fail to capture many of the considerations all subjects regard as most important.     

The effects of modeling and cognitive induction on the moral reasoning of adolescents

In this investigation of the effects of modeling and cognitive induction on moral reasoning, 87 junior high school students were exposed to moral reasoning, characteristic of either one stage above (+1) or one stage below (?1) their dominant stage, as determined by pretesting. The presented reasoning was attributed to a model of either high, neutral, or low status/relevance to the content of the moral dilemmas used. A multiple-choice adaptation of the Kohlberg moral development interview was used at pretesting, at intervention/posttesting, and at delayed posttesting. Analyses of changes in moral reasoning included examination of direct and indirect effects on both an immediate and a delayed posttest. Results indicated significant and stable change in moral reasoning associated with the developmental stage of the message (+1 produced advances, but ?1 failed to induce significant regression) and significant temporary change associated with the characteristics of the model (high status/relevance models had greater influence than did neutral models). It is suggested that future research and educational efforts give attention to both the moral stage of the intervention and the nature of the source to which it is attributed.     

Young adults' evaluations of themselves and their parents as a function of family structure and disposition

Young adults (N=349) were asked to evaluate, in a counterbalanced fashion, their mothers, fathers, and themselves. They also evaluated their families. Individuals from happy families were found to rate themselves significantly higher and their mothers somewhat higher than did their counterparts from unhappy families. Evaluations of fathers were not found to vary as a function of family happiness. Evaluations of fathers, but not mothers or subjects themselves, were found to vary significantly depending upon the structure of their family environments. Heider's attribution theory seems to be able to account for these varied findings.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1972. Current research interests are primarily focused upon social and personality development.     

Young adults' coping style as a predictor of their alcohol use and response to daily events

Limited resources for coping with stress have been associated with psychological disturbance and alcohol abuse among adults. In the current investigation, both retrospective questionnaires and prospective monitoring measures were used to test young adults' trait coping styles as predictors of their weekly alcohol consumption. Individuals who reported deficits in emotion focused and avoidant coping strategies drank more often than subjects with all other styles of coping. These subjects also exhibited greater overall alcohol consumption that subjects who employed high levels of emotion focused coping but low levels of avoidant coping. Results therefore support the idea that young adults' coping styles are related to their use of alcohol Analyses also showed strong positive correlations between questionnaire and monitored measures of drinking, but only moderate associations between the two measures of coping. Measurement methodologies of the current investigation are discussed in terms of their clinical and research applications.This research was supported in part by a NIAAA grant No. 1R29AA09135-01 to Kim Fromme and by two University of Delaware undergraduate research grants to Kathy Rivet.Received her Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 1988. Major research interest focuses on the ways in which alcohol use influences young adult's participation in a variety of risky activities.     

Relationships between personal control,moral reasoning,and socioeconomic status of Nigerian hausa adolescents

The Internal-External Locus of Control (I-E) Scale devised by Rotter, the revised Kohlberg's Scale of Moral Judgment, and a socioeconomic background questionnaire were administered to 97 Nigerian Hausa secondary school adolescents. Data were analyzed to find sex differences in locus of control and moral reasoning, and relationships between locus of control, moral judgment level, and socioeconomic status. Significant sex differences were not revealed in either locus of control or moral reasoning. No significant relationships between locus of control, moral judgment, and socioeconomic background were found.     

The relation between the ethics of personal conscience—social responsibility and principled moral reasoning

Three samples of college students were tested on Hogan's Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA) and Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT), a test of moral reasoning ability in the Kohlbergian tradition. In addition, one of the samples took Collins's revision of Rotter's Internal-External Scale (I-E) while another sample took Snyder's Self-Monitoring Scale. There was a small but reliable tendency for subjects who endorsed the ethics of personal conscience, as measured by the SEA, to show greater maturity in moral reasoning, as assessed by the DIT. This result was seen as raising some interesting questions about the relation between liberalism-conservatism and moral maturity. The subjects who advocated the ethics of social responsibility tended to show more internal locus of control as measured by the I-E scale. There also was a tendency for subjects who preferred the morality of conventional role-conformity, as measured by the DIT, to have high scores on the Self-Monitoring Scale. The correlations between personal conscience and mature moral reasoning, while significant, were small enough to make it seem that people of various social and political attitudes are likely to achieve maturity in moral reasoning.Received his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1973. Current research interests include moral judgment, family interaction, and alcoholism.Received his Ph.D. from Temple University in 1972. Research interests include attribution theory, social comparison theory, moral judgment, and the relation between personality and cardiac health.     

Intrapersonal variations in stage of moral reasoning among adolescents as a function of situational context

On a set of classical moral dilemmas and on a set of practical moral dilemmas 60 randomly selected eighth- and twelfth-grade students were asked to (a) judge the actions of others (judgment) and (b) reach a personal decision and give reasons for what they would do (deliberation). The interviews were transcribed and scored for stage of moral reasoning. Stage of moral reasoning associated with deliberation on practical moral dilemmas was found to be significantly lower than their moral judgment on classical moral dilemmas. An explanation was presented which combined social learning and cognitive-developmental moralization theory.Received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Research interests include the nature of moral character and the implications involved for the moral education curriculum.     

Changes in young adults after peace corps experiences: Political-social views,moral reasoning,and perceptions of self and parents

A variety of changes in Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs), 43 men and 34 women, are reported. Analyses were based on assessments made before and after an overseas tour of duty for political status, self and ideal-self constructions, perceptions of parents' child-rearing techniques, and moral reasoning. Comparisons with several samples of students and activists, studied earlier, indicated that initially the PCVs were a middle group politically, rather conventional personally, and family entrenched, the women more than the men. Evidence of their various but unitary shifts to political liberalization, greater intraceptiveness and self-determination, greater detachment from their parents, and increased incidence of principled moral reasoning suggests that the PCVs had undergone substantial self-redefinition.Received Ph.D. from California School of Professional Psychology, 1974. Interests lie in the areas of adolescent development, moral development, ego functioning, and political psychology.     

Young adults' scores on the defining issues test as a function of a “self” versus “other” presentation mode

One hundred college students were randomly divided into four groups and were administered the standard version (i.e., other-orientation) of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) and/or a Modified version (i.e., self-orientation) of the same instrument on two separate occasions. Subjects displayed greater amounts of principled moral reasoning when responding to the standard (other-orientation) rather than the modified (self-orientation) version of the DIT. Also, significant test-retest reliability was obtained for the standard, but not the modified, version of the DIT. The role of affective factors in the evaluation of moral problems involving the self versus hypothetical others was discussed.Portions of this paper were presented at the annual meetings of the Midwestern Psychological Association, St. Louis, Missouri, May 1980.Received M.A. from the State University of New York at Oswego. Current research interests are moral development, social cognition across the life-span.Received Ph.D. from Purdue University. Current research interests are children's cognitive development, eidetic imagery, and moral thinking.Received Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Current research interests are logical concept development and moral and political development.     

The structure of moral character and the explanation of moral action

This article discusses the relationship between human rule systems and social action. It assumes that all meaningful behavior is rule-governed. If so, then individual differences in moral conduct can be explained in terms of differences in the manner in which people use, justify, and maintain rules. Specifically, moral behavior can be understood in terms of five dimensions: moral knowledge, style of moral judgment, socialization, empathy, and autonomy. Evidence is presented which suggests that these dimensions can be objectively assessed and that the model works reasonably well in predicting and explaining moral conduct.Received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Professional interests include personality theory and moral development.     

认清矛盾创新载体实现转变--关于当前高校思想道德建设的思考

时代的变迁使高校思想道德建设工作面临着许多新情况、新问题。因此,加强高校思想道德建设工作,增强实效性和针对性,保持与时俱进的精神状态,是当前德育工作的重要任务。当前加强高校思想道德建设,认清思想道德建设领域存在的矛盾是前提,创新思想道德建设的载体是关键,实现思想道德建设局面的转变是保障。     

公司清算责任主体的制度设计与论证

目前我国公司法对公司清算责任主体的相关法律规定还不完善。把公司董事作为公司清算的责任主体,这种设计具有坚实的法理基础和实证基础,也符合成本效益分析的制度设计。     

Body Morph: Feasibility Testing of an Interactive CD-ROM to Teach Young Adolescents about Puberty

The aim of this pilot study was to examine the feasibility of an interactive computer program among 34 sixth and seventh grade children and to assess the potential for knowledge acquisition about puberty. Based on a developmental self-esteem approach to teach children about their bodies, the Body Morph program was designed to maximize the educational experience by: (1) tailoring puberty information to boys or girls, and (2) creating a confidential experience. Preliminary results indicated that students significantly improved their knowledge about puberty after using the program. Satisfaction among boys and girls for this type of educational approach suggests that it is a compelling format from which to learn about puberty.This research project was funded with the support of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) 1R43DK061269-01A2 to develop an educational computer program to improve body image in middle schoolers.     

Correlates of syllogistic reasoning skills in middle childhood and early adolescence

Sixth, eighth, tenth, and twelfth graders, and college students, were given a preliminary test of categorical syllogistic reasoning ability. In a subsequent session, subjects were given other categorical syllogisms and asked to depict as many of the possible relationships between the A, B, and C terms of the syllogism as they could. The number of possible relationships, and the time it took to decide if other relationships were possible, did not differ among the noncollege groups. The results indicated, however, that the correlates of reasoning proficiency differed for those subjects younger and those older than about age 13.Support for this research was provided by the Spencer Foundation, whose generosity is greatfully acknowledged.Received the Ph.D. in Psychology and the M.S.E. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania, and has research interests in the areas of formal and everyday reasoning, the development of reasoning skills, decision making, and conceptual development.Received the Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, and has research interests in the areas of language acquisition, conceptual development, and the development of reasoning skills.     

Moral structure and moral content: Their relationship to personality

The relationship between personality as embodied in the moral content of the Survey of Ethical Attitudes (SEA) and moral structure as measured by the Kohlberg Moral Judgment Interview (MJI) was investigated using 99 male college students. No relationship was found between scores on the SEA and Moral Maturity Scores on the MJI, although this finding was qualified by the fact that the MJI Scores for most students were restricted to Kohlberg's conventional range of morality. However, SEA scores were significantly correlated with the Moral Orientation scores obtained from the MJI. In contrast to scores on the SEA, scores on the MJI were significantly related to age. The problem of confusing content and structure in moral development research was explored. The theoretical implications of a personality component being involved in choice of moral orientation were discussed as well.This research was partly supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (MH-16899).Major interests are in the area of moral development and family theories of psychopathology.Received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Major interests are sociocognitive development of children and clinical child psychology.     

Labour mobility and the boundaries of the village moral economy

On the basis of a survey that the authors conducted in 80 villages in West Bengal in 1981–82, separated into five clusters of neighbouring villages, they find some significant, though varying, evidence of territorial segmentation of the rural labour market and of limited labour mobility even within adjacent territories. Personal connections between employers and employees, mutual trust and credit relationships turn out to be more important determinants of labour mobility than short‐run wage differences.