Contributions of parents and peers to children's moral socialization

Abstract

This article is concerned with the process of moral development, or specifically, how children acquire a sense of right and wrong from their interactions with two major agents of socialization—parents and peers. The first section of the paper critically examines the literature on parental influences and draws several conclusions about the ways in which parents affect children's moral character. The focus then shifts to a review of the literature on peer group contributions to moral socialization. The paper concludes by examining the literature on cross-pressures, and offering a perspective on the ways in which parental and peer group influences combine to affect children's moral development.