Predicting Adolescents’ Moral Identity from Parenting and Moral Emotions: Empathy and Guilt

Abstract

The Research suggests that moral identity is an important source of moral motivation. The purpose of this study was to assess the relations between adolescents moral identity, parenting and moral emotions: empathy and guilt. 558 high school students (49% girls, 51% boys; M age: 16) completed Aquino& Reed's moral identity scale, empathy quotient (EQ- Short), trait guilt sub scale of guilt inventory and parenting sub scale of family function scale (FFS). Linear regression analysis showed that democratic parenting style and empathy predicted higher levels of moral identity. Moreover no direct relations were observed between guilt and moral identity. Findings are discussed in light of moral identity, moral emotion and parenting styles. Future research is needed to provide evidence of the causal link in the observed relationships.