Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Moral issues changes during childhood and adolescence

With reference to theoretical and research literature, discuss how reasoning about moral issues changes during childhood and adolescence. Use examples to illustrate your response.

Fabes, Carlo, Kupanopff and Laible (1999) defined moral reasoning as “the ability or tendency to think about and make decisions in situations in which there may be conflicting values, norms, rules or laws, needs, or desires”. Generally, moral reasoning involves cognitive ability to judge and decide whether it is right or wrong.

Numerous studies on moral development of children and adults were based on Kohlberg (1981)’s six stages of moral development. Kohlberg refined on the Piaget’s work by identifying three distinct levels of moral reasoning in children and adults, namely pre-conventional, conventional and post-conventional. Each level consists of two stages. Kohlberg’s theory reflects a transition from egoistic, self-focused concerns to societal and conventional concerns, and it followed by universal and ethically principled human concerns. In short, moral development is also associated with age development.

Children aged 2-6 years (early childhood) learn to gradually understand the existence of different worldviews and be aware of other’s perspectives. However, their descriptions are only limited to the terms of physical characteristics and activities when they are requested to describe themselves and others. Children aged 6-12 years (middle childhood) start to learn more complex about moral reasoning as they develop the ability to perceive the world from other’s perspective. Children at this stage are able to describe people in terms of inner personality traits and motives (Sugarman, 2001). For example, Kohlberg’s theory on pre-conventional level can be applied to a scenario of a mother’s expectation on her children. The mother demands that her children must finish their schoolwork before they are allowed to watch television. Children may understand that “Mother is hoping that I can obtain better exam results, so I have to study hard first and play later.”

The adolescence is the bridge between childhood and adulthood where there are critical changes physically. Adolescents experience changes in personality, social interaction skills, and the ability to learn complex moral reasoning in depth. They start to use logical, abstract thinking in solving problems and apply concepts to various hypothetical situations (Sugarman, 2001). Puberty is also linked with the onset of sexual activities (Fabes et al., 1999). Adolescents may start to explore romantic relationship, which help to foster moral development too. For example, adolescent may hold moral belief about pre-marital sex and the relevant negative consequences: “If I agree to have sexual relationship with my partner, I may get pregnant and thus affect my studies. In addition, sexual intercourse is forbidden below 16 without consent according to the law.”

Besides that, Hoffman (1991, as cited in Fabes et al., 1999) stated that by late childhood and early adolescence, children can empathize with others and their life situation, which is aligned with perspective taking and self-concept development. Empathy combines both cognitive and affective dimension, hence the development of empathy is closely associated with the development of cognitive skills. Thus, the transition between childhood and adolescence may be important in the development of empathy and sympathy. This may help to explain complicated moral behaviours in adolescence and adulthood.

On the whole, Kolberg’s theory of moral development serves as a useful framework to explore moral development in childhood and adolescence. Fabes et al. (1999) suggested that more studies that examine the interactive nature of social cognitions, emotions and puberty would help us to gain insight in understanding the development of more refined theories of morality.

References:

Fabes, R. A., Carlo, G.,Kupanoff, K., & Laible, D. (1999). Early Adolescence and prosocial/moral behavior I: The role of individual processes. Journal of Early Adolescence, 19, 5-16.

Kolberg, L. (1981). The philosophy of moral development: Moral states and the idea of justice. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

Sugarman, L. (2001). Life-spam development: Frameworks, accounts and strategies. (2nd ed.). New York: Psychology Press.