Moral judgment and parental identification among children.

Abstract

The relationship of moral judgment and parental identification was studied in 50 boys and 50 girls, all of whom were white, lower-middle-class children, aged 9 1/2 to 11 1/2 years. Two hypotheses were proposed: (1) that within each sex group, children with a higher-level parental identification attain a higher stage of moral judgment than children with a lower level of parental identification; and (2) that there are no sex differences in the stage of moral judgment attained by Ss from similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Ss were screened for socioeconomic status and age. Moral judgment was defined in terms of Piaget's "two moralities" of the child and measured by a structured interview that consisted of five subtests taken from Piaget. Parental identification was measured by means of a semantic space and differential technique, and Ss were grouped on the basis of low, medium and high levels of paternal and maternal identification. Results indicate that there are no significant sex differences in moral judgment. Within each sex group there is a clear positive relationship between high-level identification and a higher stage of moral judgment.