Abstract

MOREIRA, Pollyana Lucena; CAMINO, Cleonice Pereira dos Santos  and  RIQUE, Júlio. A comparation of the moral development of adolescents between two decades. Arq. bras. psicol. [online]. 2015, vol.67, n.3, pp.47-61. ISSN 1809-5267.

This study compared the quality of moral judgment of 222 adolescents, ages between 14 and 17 years old, in 1996 and 2011. Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development was used as a theoretical reference. The Definning Issues Test was used as a measure of moral judgment. Results showed for the two decades that Stages 3, 4 and 5 were dominant in the moral judgment of adolescents and Stage 4 was significantly higher in average than the other stages. Still, the post-conventional moral thinking of Stage 5 was significantly higher (p < 0,001; d = 0,30) in 2011 than in 1996. These results, particularly the preference of use of Stage 5 for adolescents in 2011, were attributed to changes occasioned by Law No. 9394, which established the National Guidelines of Education.

Keywords : Moral judgment; Teenagers; DIT; Moral education.

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