Few studies so far have investigated whether abrupt social changes in a society affect the development of friendship and moral reasoning. In this study, 2 cohorts of 188 East German children and adolescents (aged 7, 9, 12, and 15 years) were interviewed in 1990 and 2005. Participants were asked about the importance of close friendship (friendship…

Role-taking ability and level of moral development were measured in three groups of boys and girls including 16 moderately retarded adolescents (mean chronological age 15; mean mental age 9), 16 nonretarded adolescents matched for chronological age, and 16 nonretarded children matched for mental age. (CM)

Children's judgments of whether another's misdeeds warrant punishment and, if so, how much punishment, appear to depend upon (1) the degree of external constraint (e.g., provocation) on the transgressor, (2) the age of the child making the judgment, (3) the sex of the transgressor and (4) the sex of the child making the judgment. (BH)