Gender, life experiences, and moral judgment development: A process-oriented approach.

Abstract

Education Occupation Marriage Abstract The purpose of this study was to reexamine the issue of gender differences in moral development from a process-oriented perspective. We hypothesized that life experiences and value orientations toward those experiences would exert differential influences on the processes (but not necessarily the outcomes) of moral development for women and men. Ss were 52 men and 50 women (mean adult age = 26.8 years) who were tested over a 10- year period spanning from high school (1973) to young adulthood (1983). We used path analysis (using ordinary least squares regression) to estimate the effects of education experiences, occupational experiences, and marriage on Ss' moral judgment development (assessed using Rest's, 1979, Defining Issues Test). Although we found no significant outcome differences between women's and men's adult levels of moral development, education, or occupational attainment, we did find that the processes linking education, occupation, and marriage to adult moral development differed for men and women. We interpreted these results as reflecting the influence of contemporary patterns of sex role socialization on adult processes of moral development.