Factors that contribute to moral development in South African
adolescents
Veronica Ravele
53774647
HMPYC81: Project 4805
UNISA
03/10/2019
ABSTRACT
Previous studies have suggested that moral development and identity development may be related constructs
and other studies have suggested that moral reasoning for males and females differs. Consequently, it was
hypothesised that there is a significant difference between moral reasoning of the male and female
adolescents and that higher scores on a moral reasoning measure would coincide with a higher level of
identity development. The study was based on quantitative and qualitative data which was obtained from
1813 adolescent volunteers across South Africa. Identity development was measured by administering an
identity development questionnaire. Initially, a subscale of a larger questionnaire based on Erikson’s theory
of personality development, the mean of identity development scale was 47.87. Moral reasoning was
measured by administering the Reasons for Action Questionnaire, a measure based on Kohlberg’s moral
reasoning model, the mean of the Moral developmental stage was 3.50. The main purpose of the qualitative
was to investigate how South African adolescents perceive their adolescent years and how their perception
contributes to moral development. The results indicated that most of the adolescents perceive their
adolescent years as hard and they attributed this hardship due to the peer pressure, domestic violence and
financial problems at home. The results also indicated that no significant difference exists between the
moral reasoning of male and female adolescents. Therefore, it was concluded that the moral development of
South African adolescents could be enhanced by focusing more on providing a healthy home environment
and equip them with the resources to handle peer pressure.
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, Definitions
Moral development during the adolescent years: can be defined as the way young people learn to decide
what is right and wrong, which in turn forms the basis of their principles of justice and care.
Academic achievement refers to self-perception and self-evaluation of one’s objective academic success
(Klobal & Musek, 2001)
Adolescence: According to Mwamwenda (2004) adolescence stands out as a fascinating, interesting and
challenging period of human growth and development. It is a period of great physical, social, emotional,
physiological and psychological change.
Moral development is defined by Mwamwenda (2004) as the way people learn to determine what is right
and what is wrong, which is principally the basis of the principles of justice.
Moral justification is an attempt to escape from self-contempt by attributing one’s immoral behavior to a
higher cause.
Morals refer to patterns of behavior (Leicester, Modgil & Modgil, 2000). According to Berns (2007),
morals are an individual’s evaluation of what is right and wrong. Morals involve acceptance of rules and
govern one’s behavior towards others.
Morality refers to that area of human behavior basically concerned with the categories of right and wrong,
good or bad.
Motivation is an essential part of the complex process of human learning and yet, despite its importance,
there is much that remains unknown about it. There are two types of motivation which include intrinsic and
extrinsic motivation (Berger, 2011) and Sikhwari (2004).
Values according to Haralambos and Holborn (2004) are beliefs that something is good or desirable. Values
define what is important, worthwhile and worth striving for. Values vary from society to society.
The research problem
In South African the rate of violence against women and children is on the rise and getting out of control,
women are at a higher risk of getting killed and raped not just by strangers but also by the people they love
and trust. Our prisons have more males than females, yet our population statistics show that there are more
females than males in our country. In the year 2019 alone, we have read in the papers about male
adolescents committing immoral acts, such as killing the adults, raping their classmates and physically
attacking their teachers. According to Hart and Carlo, (2005), there are more changes that happen during
adolescence as compared to adulthood as well as childhood. Pratt, Arnold, Pratt, and Diesner (1999)
regarded the adolescence stage as a central phase of life for the development of value and moral ideals for
our future adulthood. Therefore, adolescence stage is a preparation for adulthood and therefore, moral
development during adolescence stage is very critical. Thus, the purpose of this study is to find out if the
female adolescents have higher or better moral reasoning than male adolescents and to find out what can be
done to influence and enhance moral development for male adolescents.
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, Literature review
Moral development during the adolescent years can be defined as the way young people learn to decide what
is right and wrong, which in turn forms the basis of their principles of justice, but the question is; does
knowing what is wrong or right always lead to doing what is right and what can be done to influence
adolescent to always do what is right. Influences of morality on adolescents have been focused on moral
cognition and socialization agents, principally parental influences, as contributed by cognitive-
developmental and moral socialization theories. Research shows that higher-level reasoning in adolescence
is related to parenting that is supportive and stimulates adolescents to question and expand on their
reasoning, as well as with an authoritative parenting style (Eisenberg, Morris, McDaniel & Spinrad, 2009).
The section to follow encompasses different views regarding moral development, factors that can either
serve as promoting or inhibiting moral development during adolescence, thus this section covers previous
research and the work done in the field of adolescent identity development and moral development.
Factors that affect moral development during adolescence
Family
Family plays an important role in the adolescent’s moral development. Parents and elders in the family are
the primary influencers for good or bad morals in children and adolescents in general. Children learn what is
good and bad through what their parent's accept or reject, they see actions which are accepted by their
parents as good and the ones which are rejected as bad, but this does not really mean accepted actions are
good, they can be bad but because the parents approve, the child might end up thinking that they are actually
good, (Barni, Ranieri, Scabini & Rosnati, 2011)
According to Crone (2011), discipline is an important form of instilling desirable values and behavior in the
adolescent. (Crone, 2011). The three parenting styles namely; Authoritarian, permissive and Neglect
parenting styles can serve as risk factors for children to inadequately develop moral identity. (Milevsky,
Schlechter, Netter & Keehn, 2007) Parents who possess this type of parenting style are said to be less
interested and not aware of their child’s doings (Milevsky, et al. 2007). White and Matawie (2004)
researched the parents’ influence on the development of morality and had findings of several facets of both
parents’ morality significantly predicted adolescents’ morality; both parents’ external and principle morality
significantly predicted their adolescent’s external and principle morality. Also, in the findings, it was shown
that family socialization, processes of cohesion, adaptability and positive communication notably predict
adolescent external morality. Fathers’ external morality crucially interacted with father adolescent cohesion
and communication in predicting adolescent external morality. Furthermore, the family’s process of
adaptability and the family’s openness to communication was found to be significant predictors of
adolescent external morality. (White & Matawie, 2004) Kuhn and Laird believe that adolescents involved in
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, supportive and accepting relationships with their parents may be more likely to view parents’ rules and
regulations as indicators of parental interest and concern. (Kuhn & Laird, 2011)
School
According to Althof, and Berkowitz (2006) school plays an important role in forming moral concepts. The
child is influenced by the notions of the good and the bad as a result of his relationship with his classmates,
teachers and senior students. The propriety of his moral behavior depends on a great extent of his learning.
Children accept many things that they see their seniors doing in the school. The teaching of moral science
and a program of moral education goes a long way in the moral development of children and adolescents.
Peer Group
Children are always in search of suitable companions for play. They are influenced by the notions of good
and bad that prevail among their chosen companions. Mclean (2003) stated that adolescence is a period
when adolescents establish autonomy and identity. Adolescents tend to be more withdrawn from parents and
more drawn to peers, who they feel can identify with them. (McLean, 2003) Acting morally may not be seen
as pro-social by peers in the adolescent stage. Peer crowds are seen as a salient factor for moral behavior as
they serve a crucial developmental function during adolescence. Dorham (2005) believed that Peers can be
both barriers and facilitators of pro-social activities such as commitment to school and abstinence from
substance use. (Dorham, 2005) Dorham also says that affiliation with a deviant peer group has been
identified as one of the strongest risk factors predicting maladaptive adolescent outcomes. (Dorham, 2005).
Doornwaard, Branje, Meeus & te Bogt (2012) stated that adolescents who identified with ‘alternative’ and
‘urban’ nonconventional crowds reported significantly more externalizing and internalizing problem
behaviors, while adolescents who identified with ‘conventional’ and ‘achievement-oriented’ crowds
reported significantly less externalizing problem behavior. It is evident that by affiliating with deviant peer
groups the adolescent assimilates some salient aspects or behavior of the group into their own identity which
has an influence on their morality. The morality of the people that one surrounds with therefore contribute to
their own morality
Society and Culture
According to Rice and Dolgin, (2005) the general social atmosphere also affects the moral development of
the individual. It is this reason why the moral behavior of individuals belonging to cultured societies is
markedly different from that of individuals belonging to uncivilized societies.
Age
Age is an important factor in forming moral concepts and moral behaviors. As the individual passes from
infancy to adolescence, he becomes more tolerant towards certain things and those ideals which sometimes
do not tally with what he thinks to be good. From the unconditional obedience of his seniors in early and
late childhood, the individual becomes critical and couldn’t find in early adolescence. But in later
adolescence, he comes to accept many things which he had earlier rejected (Hyde, Shaw, & Moilanen,2010).
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