Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form Research Articles

Ethics Education in Allied Health: A Systematic Review of Learning Outcomes for Entry-Level Students

The complexities of modern healthcare pose a range of ethical issues for health professionals. In preparing student health professionals for these complexities, entry-level education must go beyond exposure to ethical theory, codes and standards. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the student learning outcomes reported in peer-reviewed allied health literature following ethics training. The review method included an a priori protocol, adherence to PRISMA statement, with critical appraisal via the Critical Appraisal Checklist for an Article on an Educational Intervention and The Critical Appraisal Skills Program (CASP) Qualitative Checklist. From a total of 1237 possible records published between 1991 and 2015, 11 studies of variable methodological quality met the inclusion criteria for final synthesis. Studies focused on teaching to occupational therapy, physiotherapy, pharmacy and dietetics students (n=588). Heterogeneity among studies precluded meta-analysis and data were synthesised qualitatively in a narrative format. A range of outcomes measures were used in the reviewed publications including the Structure of the Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO), Defining Issues Test (DIT), Readiness for Interprofessional Learning Scale (RIPLS), Attitudes to Health Professionals Questionnaire (AHPQ), Student Development Task Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) and the Socio-moral Reflection Measure-short form (SRM-SF). Other studies surveyed students at the completion of the educational intervention using free text questions or Likert scales. The pedagogical approach used was varied, including transformative, constructivist, arts-based, inter-professional, problem-based or experiential learning approaches. The findings of this review suggest that given the current body of evidence, the teaching of ethics to and for allied health students should include the delivery of ethics focused content, be intensive in nature, link theory with real-life situations and practice, and expose students to multiple views using a variety of methods such as reflection and discussion of ambiguous, controversial topics. While the exact prescription of ethics training to maximise efficacy and uptake is unknown, there is some suggestion that immediate learning outcomes may follow a dose-response pattern, providing potential for future teaching models to incorporate repeated ethics exposure support for cumulative and sustained learning.

Victimisation, limbic system irritability and sociomoral reasoning in male sex offenders

ABSTRACTThis study used Narvaez's (2010) Triune Ethics Theory to examine the victim-to-perpetrator hypothesis. The study surveyed 68 sex offenders from the New York State Sex Offender Registry to investigate correlates of physical and sexual abuse, and to analyse associations between victimisation, limbic system irritability, and sociomoral reasoning. Surveys were mailed to sex offenders and analysed using correlation and multivariate analysis of variance. Post hoc analysis of Sexual and Physical Abuse Questionnaire and Limbic System Check List-33 scores showed a significant relationship between physical and sexual abuse and limbic system irritability. Using the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, sex offenders were found on average to reason at the Transitional stage 2(3). Predicting self-report abuse history resulted in a 35% correct classification rate based on within-group correlations between predictors and discriminate functions as well as standardised weights.

Traits de personnalité et comportements prosociaux chez les adolescents : le rôle médiateur de l’empathie

Aim of the studyWhile many studies have been conducted on the impact of personality traits on antisocial behaviors, there is a lack of empirical data regarding prosocial behaviors. Indeed, to our knowledge, no study has been conducted on the impact of personality traits on prosocial behaviors. The aim of the current student study is to evaluate, in a community sample of adolescents, the impact of psychopathic, borderline and narcissistic traits, moral reasoning, and empathy on frequency of prosocial behaviors. Patients and methodsA sample of 239 adolescents (mean age=16.2) completed the Caprara and Pastorelli's procial scale and the Huizinga ant Elliott's delinquency scale assessing prosocial and antisocial behaviors, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index and Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form assessing empathy and moral reasoning, and a 8-item questionnaire measuring frequency of substance use. Psychopathic, borderline and narcissistic traits were also assessed using the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventor and the fourth version of the Personality Disorder Questionnaire. ResultsGirls had a mean score or prosocial behaviors (M=59.7; SD=7.1 vs. M=51; SD=9.4; t=−8; P<0.05) and empathy (M=67.9; SD=12.5 vs. M=53.3; SD=12.9; t=−8.4; P<0.05) significantly higher than boys. A two step regression analysis was conducted using frequency of prosocial behaviors as a dependant variable. Results evidenced that empathy was positively associated with frequency of prosocial behaviors in both gender. As gender was highlighted as a significant independent predictor and empathy as a potential mediator, additional mediation analyses were conducted in both gender. Empathy was a mediator between psychopathic traits and antisocial behaviors in both gender (z=−3.51; P<0.05 vs. z=−2.93; P<0.05) and a partial mediator between borderline traits and prosocial behaviors in boys (z=1.77; P<0.05). ConclusionOur findings highlighted gender differences and confirm the importance of empathy in the explanation of prosocial behaviors. Interestingly, a negative but not significant association was found between prosocial and antisocial behaviors, highlighting that a slightly association between both constructs. While borderline traits have been reported to be associated with empathy disorders, low borderline traits might increase prosocial and empathic responses in adolescents. Given the lack of empirical data on prosocial behaviors, further studies in this area are warranted.

Sociomoral Reasoning in Adults with ADHD: A Pilot Study.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is frequently linked with antisocial behaviour, yet less is known about its relationship with sociomoral reasoning, and the possible mediating effect of intelligence. A pilot study was designed to investigate the relationship between antisocial personality traits, intelligence and sociomoral reasoning in adults with ADHD. Twenty two adults with ADHD and 21 healthy controls, matched for age, gender and IQ completed a battery of measures including the National Adult Reading Test, Gough Socialisation Scale and Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form. There was no difference between the groups and levels of sociomoral reasoning, despite the ADHD group reporting greater antisocial personality traits. Sociomoral reasoning was positively correlated with intelligence. Results from a hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that both antisocial traits and IQ were significant predictors of sociomoral reasoning, with IQ proving the most powerful predictor. Whilst antisocial personality traits may explain some of the variance in levels of sociomoral reasoning, a diagnosis of ADHD does not appear to hinder the development of mature moral reasoning. Intellectual functioning appears to facilitate the development of sociomoral reasoning. A further analysis showed that both ADHD and low sociomoral reasoning were significant predictors of antisocial traits. The current findings have important treatment implications.

Étude des qualités psychométriques de la version française du How I Think Questionnaire dans un échantillon d’adolescents français

Certain research has pointed out the relative importance of cognitive distortions in the development of antisocial behavior. Distortions of social cognitions that facilitate aggression and other types of antisocial behavior have been described as self-serving cognitive distortions (Barriga et al., 2001 [2]). Considering the importance of the assessment of delinquent cognitive distortions, an instrument has been validated to measure self-serving cognitive distortions: the How I Think Questionnaire (HIT-Q, Barriga et al., 2001 [2]). Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity of a French version of the HIT-Q and its four dimensions (self-centered, blaming other, minimizing/mislabeling and assuming the worst). A sample of 972French high-school students completed the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI; Andershed et al., 2002; Andershed et al., 2007 [26,27]) used to evaluate the convergent validity of the HIT-Q. To investigate discriminant validity, participants also completed the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (SMR-SF; Gibbs et al., 1992 [28]) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983 [29]) used to assess cognitive and affective empathy. To measure antisocial behavior, the French versions of the Self-Reported Delinquency Questionnaire (SRDQ; Le Blanc and Frechette, 1989 [22]), the Antisocial Behavior Scale (ABS; Schawb-Stone et al., 1996 [23]), the Self-Reported Delinquency Behavior (SRDB; Elliott and Menard, 1996 [24]) and three items of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES; Koss et al., 2007 [25]) were used. Two samples were composed based on the same socio-demographic (age and gender) and socio-economic characteristics and ethnic background. French males scoring in the upper quartile on the antisocial behavior total score were classified in the antisocial group (n=135) and the rest of the sample in the non-antisocial group (n=306). Convergent and discriminant validity was determined using Pearson coefficients of correlation. One-way analyses of variance were used for mean scores comparisons. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the relative contribution of self-serving cognitive distortions to the prediction of antisocial behavior. The French version of the HIT-Q showed acceptable reliability and validity and also a satisfying convergent and discriminant validity. The HIT-Q and its dimensions were positively and highly correlated to psychopathic traits (r=0.50 to r=0.61, p<0.05); these findings suggested a good convergent validity. The correlation between self-serving cognitive distortions and social moral reasoning (r=-0.23 to r=-0.28, p<0.05) and empathy (r=-0.13 to r=-0.20, p<0.05) appeared to be negative and low; this relationship was conclusive and showed a satisfying discriminant validity. Mean comparison showed that participants in the antisocial group reported higher scores of self-serving cognitive distortions and its dimensions than the non-antisocial group. Self-serving cognitive distortions significantly predicted antisocial behavior (β=0.58, SE=0.02, p<0.001) and explained 34% of the variance. The study of the convergent validity of the HIT-Q with the YPI as external criteria showed they were closely linked, which suggests self-serving cognitive distortion may be the cognitive expression of psychopathic traits. The discriminant validity of the HIT-Q with moral reasoning and empathy was satisfying and similar to previous results (Lardén et al., 2006 [20]). In concordance with previous studies, delinquent cognitive distortions appeared to be a significant predictor of antisocial behavior and moreover, participants in the antisocial group reported higher scores of self-serving cognitive distortions (Capuano, 2007; Barriga and Gibbs, 1996; Nas et al., 2008 [10-12]). The present study showed that the French version of the HIT-Q presents good psychometric properties.

The Adapted Version of the Sociomoral Reflection Measure (SRM-AV) in Dutch Forensic Psychiatric Patients

We developed a new instrument for measuring moral maturity in Dutch forensic psychiatric patients with the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form as a starting point. This instrument contains 11 propositions to which respondents indicate their own perceived level of importance and justifications of their choices. Twenty new statements were added to these 11 propositions. Justifications of the responses were scored with the aid of a seven-point scale, each point representing a (transitional) level of moral maturity. In order to have a practical instrument, we deleted 11 items with the lowest interrater reliability of the 31 items. The internal consistency, interrater reliability and test-retest reliability of the new instrument with the remaining 20 items (SRM-AV) were good. Validity was supported by significant correlations with age, psychopathy, agreeableness, and verbal aggression. Patients scored significantly lower on the SRM-AV than two non-clinical control groups. For the time being, the SRM-AV appears to measure moral maturity in forensic psychiatric patients in a reliable and valid way.

Sexually abusive youths' moral reasoning on sex

The Sociomoral Reflection Measure—Short Form Objective (SRM-SFO), with additional items related to sexual moral issues, was applied to an incarcerated sexually abusive juvenile population. Sexually abusive youths were expected to show a lower level of moral development related to sexual issues when compared to non-offending youths, but not for non-sexual issues. The sample consisted of 24 incarcerated sexually abusive male youths and 24 non-offending male youths. Results indicated that sexually abusive youths used more pre-conventional reasoning related to sexual issues when compared to controls. No differences were found in conventional reasoning on sexual issues and non-sexual issues. In addition, no differences were found in pre-conventional reasoning on non-sexual issues, thus partly confirming the main hypothesis. It was concluded that the original form of the SRM-SFO could not assess existing moral development delays in sexually abusive youths, but can with appropriate adjustments. Additionally, the results suggest that moral development is rather flexible in relation to moral value domains.

Moral judgment, cognitive distortions and implicit theories in young sex offenders

This study focused on moral judgment, cognitive distortions and implicit theories in 77 young sex offenders of whom 56 were child abusers and 21 were peer abusers. The sociomoral reflection measure–short form (SRM-SF) was used to assess moral judgment, and was extended with questions about sexual situations and the offenders’ abuse victim(s). Lower stage moral judgment was only found in peer abusers responding to own victim situations. The Sex With Children (SWCH) scale was used to measure implicit theories, which are beliefs justifying sex with children. No significant differences were found between the child and peer abuser group. Neither significant relations were found between the implicit theories and the level of moral judgment. In addition, all SRM-SF responses were coded according to Barriga and Gibbs’ (1996. Measuring cognitive distortion in antisocial youth: Development and preliminary validation of the ‘How I think’ questionnaire. Psychology Department, 22, 333–343) four-category typology of self-serving cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions concerning the abuse victim were associated with lower stage moral judgment, but only in the peer abuser group.

Assessment of Moral Judgment and Empathy in Young Sex Offenders

Professional decision making in forensic clinical practice may have lifelong consequences for offenders. Although information on moral development is important for prediction of reoffending and referral to adequate treatment, conclusions regarding moral development are still largely based on unstructured clinical judgment instead of assessment instruments. For this study, the authors examined to what extent unstructured clinical judgment of both moral judgment and victim empathy concurred with test results in a group of young sex offenders. Moral judgment was measured with the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (SRM-SF), whereas victim empathy was measured with an extended version of the Basic Empathy Scale (BES). No significant associations were found between clinical judgment of moral judgment and the mean scores on the SRM-SF. However, clinical judgment of victim empathy was significantly associated with victim empathy on the Victim Empathy Scale but not consistently in the expected direction. Juvenile sex offenders, who were judged by clinicians to show little victim empathy, displayed lower mean scores on the Victim Empathy Scale than juvenile sex offenders who were evaluated to lack victim empathy or to have intact victim empathy. This study showed unstructured clinical judgment of moral development not to concur with test results. To improve decision-making processes regarding moral development, clinicians are advised to rely on instruments that assess moral development to inform clinical judgment. Further research is needed to examine which predictions are more accurate and to establish the predictive validity of moral development evaluations.

Moral judgment of young sex offenders with and without intellectual disabilities

This study examined differences in moral judgment between juvenile sex offenders with and without intellectual disabilities. The Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (SRM-SF) was used to assess moral judgment, and was extended with questions referring to general sexual situations and to the offenders' abuse victim(s). Juvenile sex offenders with and without ID significantly differed in moral judgment stage regarding general life, sexual and own abuse victim situations. Juvenile sex offenders with ID generally showed stage 2 moral reasoning, which indicated that their justifications for moral decisions were dominated by instrumental and pragmatic reciprocity, whereas juvenile sex offenders without ID used reasons and justifications representing transitional moral stage 2/3 moral judgment, indicating that the maintenance of interpersonal relationships was considered to a certain extent in their justifications for moral decisions. Future research should examine to what extent moral judgment of offenders with ID should be targeted in treatment.

Validation du questionnaire EORTC In-Patsat32 de satisfaction des patients atteints de cancer dans les établissements de soins au Maroc

L’objectif de cette étude est d’étudier les qualités psychométriques de la version française du questionnaire anglo-saxon des distorsions cognitives auto-complaisantes délinquantogènes, le How I Think Questionnaire (HIT-Q) (Barriga et al., 2001 [2]) en testant sa fidélité et sa validité sur un échantillon de 972 adolescents. Les résultats rapportent une très bonne consistance interne de l’échelle et une corrélation inter-items élevée (α de Cronbach = 0,91 ; MIC = 0,22). Les validités convergente, discriminante et critériée sont satisfaisantes. La version française du questionnaire des distorsions cognitives auto-complaisantes se présente comme un questionnaire ayant de bonnes propriétés psychométriques. Ce questionnaire constitue donc un bon outil d’évaluation des cognitions délinquantogènes dans un échantillon d’adolescents français.Certain research has pointed out the relative importance of cognitive distortions in the development of antisocial behavior. Distortions of social cognitions that facilitate aggression and other types of antisocial behavior have been described as self-serving cognitive distortions (Barriga et al., 2001 [2]). Considering the importance of the assessment of delinquent cognitive distortions, an instrument has been validated to measure self-serving cognitive distortions: the How I Think Questionnaire (HIT-Q, Barriga et al., 2001 [2]). Thus, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the convergent, discriminant and concurrent validity of a French version of the HIT-Q and its four dimensions (self-centered, blaming other, minimizing/mislabeling and assuming the worst).A sample of 972 French high-school students completed the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI ; Andershed et al., 2002 ; Andershed et al., 2007 [26], [27]) used to evaluate the convergent validity of the HIT-Q. To investigate discriminant validity, participants also completed the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (SMR-SF ; Gibbs et al., 1992 [28]) and the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI ; Davis, 1983 [29]) used to assess cognitive and affective empathy. To measure antisocial behavior, the French versions of the Self-Reported Delinquency Questionnaire (SRDQ ; Le Blanc and Frechette, 1989 [22]), the Antisocial Behavior Scale (ABS ; Schawb-Stone et al., 1996 [23]), the Self-Reported Delinquency Behavior (SRDB ; Elliott and Menard, 1996 [24]) and three items of the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES ; Koss et al., 2007 [25]) were used. Two samples were composed based on the same socio-demographic (age and gender) and socio-economic characteristics and ethnic background. French males scoring in the upper quartile on the antisocial behavior total score were classified in the antisocial group (n = 135) and the rest of the sample in the non-antisocial group (n = 306). Convergent and discriminant validity was determined using Pearson coefficients of correlation. One-way analyses of variance were used for mean scores comparisons. Regression analysis was used to evaluate the relative contribution of self-serving cognitive distortions to the prediction of antisocial behavior.The French version of the HIT-Q showed acceptable reliability and validity and also a satisfying convergent and discriminant validity. The HIT-Q and its dimensions were positively and highly correlated to psychopathic traits (r = 0.50 to r = 0.61, p < 0.05) ; these findings suggested a good convergent validity. The correlation between self-serving cognitive distortions and social moral reasoning (r = −0.23 to r = −0.28, p < 0.05) and empathy (r = −0.13 to r = −0.20, p < 0.05) appeared to be negative and low ; this relationship was conclusive and showed a satisfying discriminant validity. Mean comparison showed that participants in the antisocial group reported higher scores of self-serving cognitive distortions and its dimensions than the non-antisocial group. Self-serving cognitive distortions significantly predicted antisocial behavior (β = 0.58, SE = 0.02, p < 0.001) and explained 34% of the variance.The study of the convergent validity of the HIT-Q with the YPI as external criteria showed they were closely linked, which suggests self-serving cognitive distortion may be the cognitive expression of psychopathic traits. The discriminant validity of the HIT-Q with moral reasoning and empathy was satisfying and similar to previous results (Lardén et al., 2006 [20]). In concordance with previous studies, delinquent cognitive distortions appeared to be a significant predictor of antisocial behavior and moreover, participants in the antisocial group reported higher scores of self-serving cognitive distortions (Capuano, 2007 ; Barriga and Gibbs, 1996 ; Nas et al., 2008 [10], [11], [12]).The present study showed that the French version of the HIT-Q presents good psychometric properties.

Moral development of solo juvenile sex offenders

This study compared the moral development of solo juvenile male sex offenders (n = 20) and juvenile male non-offenders (n = 76), aged 13–19 years, from lower socioeconomic and educational backgrounds. The Moral Orientation Measure (MOM) was used to assess punishment- and victim-based moral orientation in sexual and non-sexual situations. Moral judgement was assessed with the Sociomoral Reflection Measure – Short Form (SRM-SF), with questions added on sexual offending and the offender's own victim(s). Offenders did not differ from non-offenders in victim-based orientation, but they showed weaker punishment-based orientation in sexual and non-sexual situations. No differences in moral judgement were found. However, lower stages of moral judgement were observed when the offenders’ own victim was involved, confirming specific moral deficits in solo juvenile sex offenders. Delay in moral judgement proved to be associated with cognitive distortions. It was concluded that the treatment of solo juvenile sex offenders should challenge own victim-related cognitive distortions.

Moral judgment development across cultures: Revisiting Kohlberg’s universality claims

This article revisits Kohlberg’s cognitive developmental claims that stages of moral judgment, facilitative processes of social perspective-taking, and moral values are commonly identifiable across cultures. Snarey [Snarey, J. (1985). The cross-cultural universality of social-moral development: A critical review of Kohlbergian research. Psychological Bulletin, 97, 202–232] examined Kohlberg’s claims in a survey of 45 cross-cultural studies in 27 countries that used Kohlberg’s dilemma method of stage assessment (the Moral Judgment Interview, MJI [Colby, A., & Kohlberg, L. (1987). The measurement of moral judgment: Vol. 1. Theoretical foundations and research validation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press]). Snarey’s review identified a basic stage trend but also the cultural specificity of Kohlberg’s highest stages. As a remedy, Snarey proposed a culturally inclusive elaboration of the highest stages. Another proposed model [Gibbs, J. C. (2003). Moral development and reality: Beyond the theories of Kohlberg and Hoffman. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] argued for maturity in the basic moral judgment stage trend. Gibbs’ revisionist model has been associated with an alternative (dilemma-free) assessment method (the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, SRM-SF [Gibbs, J. C., Basinger, K. S., & Fuller, D. (1992). Moral maturity: Measuring the development of sociomoral reflection. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum]). Snarey’s and Gibbs’s revisionist models are compared and used as frameworks for interpreting not only the MJI findings but also newer SRM-SF findings from 75 cross-cultural studies conducted in 23 countries. Despite continuing questions for research, multimethod convergence is found for common moral values, basic moral judgment stage development, and related social perspective-taking across cultural groups.

Moral Judgment and Conduct Disorder Intensity in Adolescents Involved in Delinquency: Matching Controls by School Grade

Most studies that have found associations between delinquency and moral judgment generally compare incarcerated juveniles with adolescents in normal schooling. However, this comparison is subject to two criticisms. First, a large number of adolescents in school who are not charged with any crime in the legal system are still involved in unlawful behaviour. Second, adolescents involved with delinquency often have difficulties at school. The aim of the present study was to measure this association by matching a sample of adolescents involved with delinquency (n=18, M age=15.8, SD=1.1) to adolescents not involved in delinquency (n=42, M age=15.8, SD=0.8) according to their school grade and Conduct Disorder Intensity as measured by a self-report index using DSM-IV diagnostic criteria. Participants who met four or more criteria were assigned to the High Conduct Disorder group (n=28), and the rest were assigned to the Low Conduct Disorder group (n=32). Their level of moral judgment was evaluated with the French version of the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form by Gibbs, Basinger, and Fuller, inspired by Kohlberg's model of moral development. Findings demonstrate that in both samples, adolescents in the High Conduct Disorder group presented moral judgment that was significantly less mature than that of adolescents in the Low Conduct Disorder group. However, the majority of participants in the Low Conduct Disorder group also scored low on the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, suggesting more immature moral judgment. The bias introduced by the mode of recruitment in most comparisons of adolescents involved with delinquency to adolescents with no delinquency problems is discussed, and an argument is made for the importance of analysing moral judgment development within a framework of general cognitive development.

Reduced anterior cingulate activation in aggressive children and adolescents during affective stimulation: Association with temperament traits

Objective The risk for conduct disorder (CD) is markedly increased in children with specific temperament dimensions. Here, we investigated whether adverse temperament factors might contribute to an impairment in neural mechanisms underlying the regulation of aggressive behaviour. Method Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 13 male adolescents with CD aged 9 to 14 years and in 14 healthy age and sex-matched control subjects at 1.5 T. During scanning, subjects looked at pictures from the International Affective Picture System with neutral or strong negative emotional valence. Temperament was assessed using the German version of the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory. In addition, behavioural control strategies (Wisconsin Card Sorting, Four Pack Card Playing Task) and sociomoral reasoning (Sociomoral Reflection Measure Short Form) were tested to behaviourally characterise the study groups. Results When comparing CD patients with healthy controls, we found reduced activation in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in response to negative affective pictures. The temperament dimension ‘novelty seeking’ was a significant predictor for ACC responsiveness to affective pictures as revealed by a stepwise multiple regression analysis ( β = − 0.53, p < 0.01). Moreover, individuals with high ‘novelty seeking’ scores chose more disadvantageous strategies in the Four Pack Card Playing Task ( p < 0.05) and were characterised by a lower level of sociomoral reasoning ( p < 0.05). Conclusion The results of this study provide a link between temperament factors and neural correlates of emotion processing in adolesecents with conduct disorder.

Moral maturity and delinquency after prenatal alcohol exposure.

Prenatal exposure to alcohol is associated with cognitive, behavioral and social deficits, including delinquency. Although delinquent populations and those with intellectual and behavioral deficits exhibit impaired moral judgment and reasoning, this area remains unexplored in alcohol-exposed individuals. Moral maturity and delinquency were evaluated in 27 participants with prenatal alcohol exposure (ALC group) and 29 nonexposed controls (CON group) matched on age (range: 10-18), gender, handedness, socioeconomic status and ethnicity. Moral maturity was evaluated using the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, and delinquency was evaluated with the Conduct Disorder (CD) Questionnaire. Additional measures included social desirability and inhibition. The ALC group performed at a lower level of moral maturity than the CON group. Whereas Verbal IQ primarily predicted this difference, a deficit on the moral value judgment having to do with relationships with others was specific to prenatal alcohol exposure. Furthermore, delinquency was higher in the ALC group, and specific sociomoral values were predictive of delinquent behavior. Finally, half of the children and adolescents with a history of prenatal alcohol exposure but without fetal alcohol syndrome had probable CD. The results of this study indicate that interventions aimed at reducing delinquency in those with prenatal alcohol exposure are necessary, and targeting moral judgment for this purpose may be beneficial.

Moral/non‐moral domain shift in young adolescents in relation to delinquent behaviour

Because moral transgressions are considered more serious than non‐moral (i.e. conventional or personal) transgressions, it is less threatening to self‐esteem to interpret one's own delinquent act as a non‐moral transgression rather than a moral transgression. This ‘domain shift’ could be a way of reducing cognitive dissonance. It was expected that adolescents who report a certain category of delinquent behaviour would evaluate hypothetical transgressions in the same category as more non‐moral than would adolescents who did not report that category of delinquent behaviour. A group of 278 students from the first (M(age)=13.1), second (M(age)=14.3) and third (M(age)=15.2) grade of intermediate secondary schools in the Netherlands participated in the research. The results showed a domain shift from the moral towards non‐moral domains in the evaluation of hypothetical situations about delinquent behaviour reported by the adolescent. At the same time, this domain shift did not occur in situations concerning delinquent behaviour not reported by the adolescent, even when delinquent behaviour occurred in the adolescent's peer group. This finding is consistent with the hypothesis that the domain shift takes place as a consequence of cognitive dissonance. The results also showed that the attitude towards delinquent behaviour and the prevalence of delinquent behaviour in the peer group both predicted a unique part of the variance in reported delinquent behaviour (RDB; 28% and 10%, respectively). The level of moral reasoning (measured by the Sociomoral Reflection Measure–Short Form [SRM‐SF]) did not appear to be a significant predictor of RDB.

Rationalizing criminal behaviour: the influence of criminal sentiments on sociomoral development in violent offenders and nonoffenders.

Cognitive developmental theory suggests that mature-level sociomoral reasoning (Stages 3 and 4) can provide a protective factor, or buffer, against antisocial and violent criminal behavior. This study explored whether the influence of internalised criminal sentiments could undermine this buffer. The sample was high-risk men and women offenders (n = 99) convicted of serious violent index offences, and men and women nonoffender university students (n = 101). Moral reasoning was measured using the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, whereas criminal sentiments were assessed using the Criminal Sentiments Scale. Based on moral reasoning development level the sample was classified into groups: mature- or immature-level moral reasoners. The results suggested that mature-level sociomoral development might not protect a person from identifying with criminal others, and that law violation could be rationalized regardless of sociomoral level. Gender differences were neither expected nor found. The applied implications of the findings are considered.

Construction of a scale for measuring development of moral judgement.

The present research is a part of a study done to develop an objective measure of the development of moral judgement according to Kohlberg's theoretical construct. The Padua Scale of Moral Judgement and the relationship between empirical data and theory are presented. The scale was constructed from responses to the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form derived from Kohlberg's Moral Judgement Interview. Reliability and validity of the new scale as well as group age and sex differences were examined.

The impact of political conflict on moral maturity: a cross-national perspective

This cross-national study of moral reasoning among adolescents in Northern Ireland, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, addresses the problem of possible moral truncation in Northern Ireland due to the political conflict. The Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (SRM-SF; Gibbs et al. (1992) Moral Maturity: Measuring the Development of Sociomoral Reflection. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Erlbaum. was presented to a proportionate stratified sample of 14–15 year olds ( n=613) from three locations including a small town, large town and city in each country to control for urbanization. This adolescent sample consisted of participants from both of Northern Ireland's religious communities and was matched for age and sex. Analysis of the results suggested that despite the violent atmosphere over the last 30 years, the Northern Irish adolescents were not developmentally delayed in moral terms as previously feared (Fraser (1972) Special Education, 61 , 6–8; Fields (1973). A Society on the Run: A Psychology of Northern Ireland. Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin; (1976) Northern Ireland: Society Under Siege. New Brunswick and London: Transaction Books; Lyons (1973) The Northern Teacher, 19–30) Copyright 2002 The Association for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.