This article identifies theoretical and practical resources for practitioners and researchers working toward cultivating character and moral judgment in youth. In doing this, the article draws on a 3-year study on character education in U.K. schools completed by the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues at the University of Birmingham and…

Moral identity research to date has largely failed to provide evidence for developmental trends in moral identity, presumably because of restrictions in the age range of studies and the use of moral identity measures that are insensitive to age-related change. The present study investigated moral identity motivation across a broad age range (14-65…

Having a purpose is a form of intrapersonal giftedness. An even rarer giftedness is motivation to positively change society or culture. This exploratory chi-square and ANOVA study reports the prevalence, age distribution, stability over time, and characteristics of two change oriented aims in American adolescents. In a sample of 270, 12%, who tend…

Young people need to rebel and to progress from childish gullibility, through disillusionment and doubt, to adult discernment. To do this they need standards to rebel against and adult judgments to test, accept, or reject. But educated adults no longer provide such standards and judgments. (Author/JG)

Article probed the significant moral dilemmas of adolescence, i.e., the need for self expression versus peer and adult pressures to behave in accordance with group and community standards. (RK)

This document reports on two studies that used a novel approach to categorize justifications for moral judgments made by Australian subjects from 7 to 15 and from 7 to 21 years of age. The coding categories consisted of levels of abstraction and reflection. Level of abstraction was determined by the reference group used in justifications. Levels…

Reported are two studies of the categorization of adolescents' justifications for the morality of others' actions. To analyze interview data, a new method of scoring moral judgments was developed. Study 1, involving 180 individuals from 12 to 21 years of age, focused on dimensions of reflection and abstraction associated with four categories of…

Examined the self-understanding and moral judgment of 15 African American and Hispanic American adolescents nominated by community leaders for their exemplary caring behavior. These "care exemplars" were more likely than comparison adolescents to describe themselves in terms of moral personality traits and goals and to view themselves as…

This study investigates the parent-child relationship antecedents of a multidimensional model of moral character among late adolescents. The model posits that the configuration of five character dimensions explains the moral behavior displayed by an individual. The dimensions are moral knowledge, socialization, empathy, autonomy and ethical…

Explores the idea that workplaces have levels of moral complexity to assist in understanding how schools can create conditions that foster teacher's personal and professional growth. Focuses on: (1) social and moral complexity of the job of teaching; (2) schools as communities of development; (3) teacher development; and (4) effects on students…

Investigated the relationships among gender, age, and self-image of adolescents attending three secondary schools in Jamaica. Results revealed statistically significant effects for both gender and age. Gender significantly influenced morals, while age differences affected six other dimensions. Some results contradicted past research. (RJM)

Analyzes the confusion in the language of political economy in Great Britain that generates and sustains moral infantilism in the civil polity. Critiques the limits of recent approaches to moral education. Sketches the relationship between the use of interpretative understanding and Jungian insights in support of poetry in moral engagement.…