Sociomoral reasoning in children and adolescents from two collectivistic cultures

This study compared the sociomoral reasoning of 7-, 9-, 12-, and 15-year-old children and adolescents of two collectivistic cultures in the 1990s: Spain (horizontal collectivism; N = 208) and Russia (vertical collectivism; N = 247). Participants reasoned about choices and moral justifications of a protagonist in a sociomoral dilemma where participants can focus on different moral and non-moral concerns (e.g., going with their best friend, going with a new classmate or trying to do something with both). Results support previous research in western societies: participants tend to choose the option “visiting the best friend”, and self-interest tends to decrease with age whereas altruism tends to increase. Moreover, Spanish participants tended to consider all parties involved in the dilemma (i.e., old friend and new classmate), whereas Russian participants did not. These results are discussed in light of their differences as horizontal and vertical collectivistic societies. Overall, the results open an avenue for new studies when comparing the effects of culture on children's and adolescents' development.     

Reliability and construct validity of a Swedish social attitude scale for children

The aim was to construct a social attitude scale for children and to assess its reliability and construct validity, employing a sample of 226 children, aged 8–15, from schools within metropolitan Stockholm. The results showed the precision, test-retest reliability and internal consistency for the total scale to be moderate among younger subjects (8, 10 and 12 years) and acceptable among older ones (14 and 15 years). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed different factor structures for the various age groups. Only two factors were identified for the 8 year olds, while three, four, and five factors were obtained for the 10, 12, 14, and 15 year old subjects, respectively. The factors were, in consecutive order of appearance, Religion, Punitiveness, Ethnocentrism, Political-economic conservatism, and Environmental issues. Implications for attitude measurement among children and directions for further research on structural aspects of attitudes are discussed.     

Moral judgement in adolescents: Age differences in applying and justifying three principles of harm

This study investigated the application and justification of three principles of harm in a cross-sectional sample of adolescents in order to test recent theories concerning the source of intuitive moral judgements. Participants were 46 early (M _age = 14.8 years) and 40 late adolescents (M _age = 17.8 years). Participants rated the permissibility of various ethical dilemmas, and provided justifications for their judgements. Results indicated participants aligned their judgements with the three principles of harm, but had difficulty explaining their reasoning. Furthermore, although age groups were consistent in the application of the principles of harm, age differences emerged in their justifications. These differences were partly explained by differences in language ability. Additionally, participants who used emotional language in their justifications demonstrated a characteristically deontological pattern of moral judgement on certain dilemmas. We conclude adolescents in this age range apply the principles of harm but that the ability to explain their judgements is still developing.     

Applicability of a cognitive model of worry to children and adolescents

BackgroundIntolerance of uncertainly (IU), cognitive avoidance (CA) and positive beliefs about worry (PB) independently predict worry frequency in older adolescents and adults, and when targeted together in treatment produce significant reductions in both worry and anxiety in this age range. The present study addresses a gap in the literature by testing whether a cognitive model of excessive worry and anxiety incorporating these process variables is applicable to children and adolescents.MethodPrimary and secondary school students (n = 515; aged 7–19 years) completed modified self-report measures of worry frequency, anxiety, IU, CA and PB and a path analysis undertaken to test whether IU was a higher order variable for CA and PB and whether the relationship between IU/CA/PB and anxiety was mediated by worry frequency.ResultsSignificant (bivariate) correlations were observed between the measures of IU, PB, CA, worry and anxiety across the age range. However separate path models had to be fitted for children (aged 7–12 years) and adolescents (aged 13–19) with PB being dropped from the child model. CA was related to anxiety only through worry in children while IU showed direct paths to worry and anxiety in both children and adolescents.ConclusionsCognitive models of persistent worry in adults and older adolescents may, with some modification, have applicability to children. Further testing and refinement of these cognitive models of worry may lead to improvements in existing treatments for anxious youth.     

A new Swedish social attitude scale: Reliability and construct validity

The aim was to construct an updated and balanced version of a previous Swedish social attitude scale (Sidanius, 1976), and to assess the reliability and construct validity, employing a sample of 445 students, aged 14–17, from schools within metropolitan Stockholm. The results showed acceptable precision and internal consistency and reasonably high test-retest reliability for the scale as a whole. The a priori attitude domains (political-economic conservatism, religion, punitiveness, social inequality, ethnocentrism, and environment) were identified through use of confirmatory factor analysis. Most domains showed acceptable reliability. Differing results for the various age groups indicated that the present version of the scale should not be used among subjects below the age of 15.     

Cybervictimization and body esteem: Experiences of Swedish children and adolescents

This study investigates the relationship between cybervictimization and body esteem among 1076 pupils, ages 10–15. More specifically we investigated if being the victim of cyberbullying was related to body esteem, and if there were any grade and gender differences in these relationships. Additionally, we examined how often pupils' believed that cyberbullying was directed at the victims' appearance, and if this view was more common when girls were cybervictims compared to when boys were cybervictims. Pupils in fourth grade (10-year-olds), sixth grade (12-year-olds) and ninth grade (15-year-olds), from 21 different schools in Gothenburg were surveyed. The main finding was that victims of cyberbullying reported poorer body esteem than non-cybervictims. The results also showed that pupils believed that cyberbullying was directed at the victims' appearance, especially when girls were victims. This study provides unique data concerning the links between being exposed to cyberbullying and body esteem.     

Reflection and reasoning in moral judgment

While there is much evidence for the influence of automatic emotional responses on moral judgment, the roles of reflection and reasoning remain uncertain. In Experiment 1, we induced subjects to be more reflective by completing the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) prior to responding to moral dilemmas. This manipulation increased utilitarian responding, as individuals who reflected more on the CRT made more utilitarian judgments. A follow-up study suggested that trait reflectiveness is also associated with increased utilitarian judgment. In Experiment 2, subjects considered a scenario involving incest between consenting adult siblings, a scenario known for eliciting emotionally driven condemnation that resists reasoned persuasion. Here, we manipulated two factors related to moral reasoning: argument strength and deliberation time. These factors interacted in a manner consistent with moral reasoning: A strong argument defending the incestuous behavior was more persuasive than a weak argument, but only when increased deliberation time encouraged subjects to reflect.     

Contesting orientations: Measure construction and the prediction of sportspersonship

ObjectiveThis three-study investigation was undertaken to develop, validate, and test the Contesting Orientations Scale (COS), a new measure designed to assess individuals' tendencies to use contest-is-partnership and contest-is-war conceptual metaphors (i.e., contesting orientations) when competing (Shields & Bredemeier, 2009, 2011a).DesignThe research design was correlational. Following preliminary item creation and expert review, survey based studies were conducted to develop theoretically-based, psychometrically sound scales measuring contesting orientations.MethodIn Study 1, an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was performed on a preliminary 39-item COS administered to a sample of high school athletes (N = 233). Study 2 used EFA to evaluate a revised 23- item COS with a second sample of high school athletes (N = 92) resulting in a final reduction of the measure to twelve items. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was then conducted on this 12-item COS, which proved an excellent fit to the data. A new sample of college athletes (N = 238) allowed Study 3 to (a) further examine the factorial validity of the COS, including gender invariance testing, (b) assess the concurrent validity of the COS via its correlations with goal orientations, empathy, moral identity, and moral disengagement; and, (c) assess the COS's incremental predictive utility for investigations of sportspersonship.Results and conclusionResults from the sequence of studies demonstrate that the 12-item, two-scale COS has good psychometric properties as assessed through EFA and CFA, good concurrent validity, and adds significantly to existing measures in the prediction of sportspersonship.     

The Rathus Assertiveness Schedule modified for early adolescents

The 30-item Rathus Assertiveness Schedule was modified for the seventh-grade population using the method of peer ratings. Split-half reliability scores are of moderate to high acceptability (N=108, 0.69<r's<0.81,P's<0.01). The method of peer rating itself attained a moderate to high split-half reliability (N=108, 0.46<r's<0.95,P's<0.01). Correlation of the Modified Rathus Assertiveness Schedule with peer ratings established validity in three of the four experimental populations (P<0.05). The results obtained from the present study are comparable to those obtained by S. A. Rathus (Behavior Therapy, 1973b,4, 398–406).The research for this article was cofunded by the National Interagency Council on Smoking and Health and the American Heart Association of Western New York.     

Reliability and Validity of the Current Anxiety Level Measure

Professionals interested in assessing state anxiety (in the moment) levels before and after brief activity-based treatments would find limited evidence-based assessments. The purpose of this study was to develop and test the current anxiety level measure, a free, valid, and reliable state anxiety assessment. To establish concurrent validity, the current anxiety level measure was administered (n?=?98) alongside the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. Results found a strong relationship (r?=?.904, p?r?=?.702, p?n?=?102). Both samples showed the current anxiety level measure to be reliable and valid.     

当代道德教育指向:从道德顺从到道德选择的理路

我国的道德教育有着悠久的历史,其主体流质是道德顺从教育,原因有:伦理本位的思想传统;群体本位的教育倾向和道德教育的政治统治功能强化。当代道德教育的时代背景的变迁即社会结构的转型和多元化社会的形成以及当代道德教育人本倾向和生活世界的实践回归,标示着道德选择教育成为了道德教育的内在要求和指向。     

Collective moral disengagement: Initial validation of a scale for adolescents

Collective moral disengagement refers to shared group beliefs that morally justify negative actions. This study reports an initial validation of the newly developed Classroom Collective Moral Disengagement Scale (CCMDS) for adolescents. This self-report instrument assesses the degree to which mechanisms of moral disengagement are shared by students in their class. Data were collected from two samples of 486 and 654 adolescents attending middle and high schools in Italy. Through exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses the unidimensional structure of the scale was established. Multigroup analyses demonstrated configural, metric and scalar invariance of the model across age and gender groups. The final version of the scale consists of 17 items and it has good internal consistency and validity. It is concluded that the scale is a promising measure for research concerning group level morality.     

The myth of the moral faculty: Response to Kirkby

David Kirkby argues that I have misrepresented Marc Hauser's conception of a moral faculty, in a way that invalidates my chief arguments against the existence and necessity of such a faculty. The core of Kirkby's challenge is that what Hauser lists as necessary conditions for the moral faculty to do its work are not themselves components of that faculty. I argue that there is no useful way to distinguish necessary conditions of moral judgments from the alleged moral faculty itself, and that even if we could do this, we would be left with an empty non-explanation of the supposed moral faculty that amounts to nothing more than the claim that we have a faculty that generates judgments of right versus wrong.     

Evaluating Pastoral Effectiveness: To Measure or Not to Measure

Interviews were conducted with 101 senior pastoral leaders from a variety of denominations in order to identify the ways in which pastors and those in authority positions over senior pastoral leaders measure their own effectiveness. The findings of these interviews revealed 23 measures of effectiveness in five categories, including leader outcomes, congregational outcomes, and objective outcomes. Based on the effectiveness taxonomy described in the current study, a process is suggested for a preliminary discussion among church leadership teams, congregational boards, and denominations to identify their primary mission, constituencies served, and related effectiveness priorities.     

Moral chronicity and social information processing: Tests of a social cognitive approach to the moral personality

Following Higgins, King, and Mavin (1982) chronicity paradigm, we examined the effects of chronically accessed moral constructs for prototypic moral character using two different research paradigms, spontaneous trait inferencing and lexical decision. Study 1 presented target sentences in a deliberate or spontaneous processing condition. Recall was cued with either a dispositional or semantic cue. Moral chronics made more spontaneous trait inferences with dispositional cues than semantic cues. In Study 2, participants read stories about characters who did or did not help. Moral chronics were faster responding to probes reflecting negative evaluations of story characters who did not help when requested (e.g., “disloyal”). Findings support claims that the moral personality is usefully conceptualized in terms of the chronic accessibility of moral knowledge structures.     

The Child Gender Socialization Scale: A Measure to Compare Traditional and Feminist Parents

This paper presents four studies conducted to develop a measure of parents’ attitudes about gendered behaviors in their children. Participants were US college students and community residents. It was expected that scores on the measure would distinguish between parents of sons and daughters, and between parents with traditional and feminist beliefs. To begin, we created a self-report questionnaire consisting of ratings of 84 gender-related behaviors, characteristics, and educational and occupational aspirations for children. Based on factor analysis and other analyses of scale scores to refine the measure, our final measure has 28 items on five scales. In keeping with expectations, the five scales consistently differentiated between boys and girls and/or traditional and feminist parents.     

The effects of social injustice and inequality on children's moral judgments and behavior: Towards a theoretical model

Our goal in this paper is to examine the potential origins of children's understanding of morally relevant transgressions, with a particular focus on how children's perceptions of both proximal and distal unfairness might influence their social reasoning and behavior. A preliminary theoretical model is presented that addresses connections among aggressive children's social cognitive biases, their attachment histories, and their working models of societal justice and fairness. It is argued that difficulties in early parent–child interactions in combination with hostile larger social environments act to undermine emotional reciprocity, empathy, and concern for others in ways likely to promote proactive, uncaring forms of victimization and harm. Furthermore, it is proposed that given sufficiently toxic social experiences, some children will develop beliefs that life does not primarily revolve around caring or fairness, but around power and domination. Discussion focuses on the potential implications of these non-normative but coherent moral beliefs for theory and intervention.     

The role of emotion expectancies in adolescents' moral decision making

This study investigated the impact of emotion expectancies on adolescents’ moral decision making in hypothetical situations. The sample consisted of 160 participants from three different grade levels (mean age = 15.79 years, SD = 2.96). Participants were confronted with a set of scenarios that described various emotional outcomes of (im)moral actions and needed to decide what they would do if they were in the protagonist’s shoes. Findings demonstrate that emotion expectancies differentially influenced adolescents’ hypothetical decision making in antisocial versus prosocial behavioral contexts. Whereas negatively charged self-evaluative emotions over failing to act morally (e.g., guilt) were the strongest predictor for moral choice in antisocial behavioral contexts, positively charged self-evaluative emotions over acting morally (e.g., pride) most strongly predicted moral choice in prosocial contexts. Older adolescents paid greater attention to outcome-oriented emotions that make the decision to act morally less attractive (e.g., regret). Overall, the study suggests that emotion expectancies influence moral decision making in unique and meaningful ways.     

The influence of negligence, intention, and outcome on children’s moral judgments

Piaget (1932) and subsequent researchers have reported that young children’s moral judgments are based more on the outcomes of actions than on the agents’ intentions. The current study investigated whether negligence might also influence these judgments and explain children’s apparent focus on outcome. Children (3–8 years of age) and adults (N = 139) rated accidental actions in which the valences of intention, negligence, and outcome were varied systematically. Participants of all ages were influenced primarily by intention, and well-intentioned actions were also evaluated according to negligence and outcome. Only two young children based their judgments solely on outcome. It is suggested that previous studies have underestimated children’s use of intention because outcome and negligence have been confounded. Negative consequences are considered to be important because children assume that they are caused by negligence. The findings indicate that young children can show sophisticated understanding of the roles of intention and negligence in moral judgments.     

Self-reported assertiveness in Swedish and Turkish adolescents: a cross-cultural comparison

The present cross-cultural study compared self-reported assertiveness in 652 Swedish and 654 Turkish high school students by using a multi-dimensional measure called the Scale for Interpersonal Behavior (SIB). Four hypotheses were tested in the study. First, the hypothesis that Swedish adolescents would be more assertive than their Turkish counterparts was supported by the data. Second, the expectation that Turkish boys would be more assertive than Turkish girls, while there would be no differences between Swedish girls and boys, was not confirmed. In general, girls were found to be more skilled than boys in expressing and dealing with personal limitations. Third, as expected, more assertive adolescents in both Sweden and Turkey reported having more friends and receiving more social support than their less assertive peers. Finally, the data supported the expectation that older adolescents would be more assertive than younger ones. The results are discussed in terms of cultural and gender differences.