Some Correlates of Maturity of Moral Reasoning in Finland

Abstract

The relationship of Kohlberg's stages of moral reasoning to various forms of social participation, family size, and responsibility-related responses to moral judgmental and projective story completion tasks was studied in two samples of Finnish preadolescents, adolescents, and young adults. Peer-rated leadership, number of leadership roles, and number of siblings were found to be associated with advances in moral stages for all age groups. Persons at each higher stage of moral structure more often attributed responsibility for the consequences of inaction in their moral judgments and in projective guilt responses and saw their consciences as being more active. Projective guilt over inaction was more clearly related to moral stage in females than in males. Females also showed greater guilt over cheating than males at all stage levels. The intensity of guilt over cheating increased up to Stage 3, but not beyond it, for both sexes. The results are interpreted as supporting both Kohlberg's theory and the existence of an orientation to responsibility in women, as suggested by Gilligan (1982).