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Title: the relationship between identity development and moral development among South

African adolescents.

Kyle Daniels

Student Number 53565843

Research report

Project 4805

Moral development & Identity development.

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Title: the relationship between identity development and moral development among South

African adolescents.

Abstract:

The current study is cross cultural and based on adolescents’ moral

behaviour with a sample consisting of 1721 participants. Adolescents’ lack of

morality is evident by the high rate of school dropouts, high rate of criminal

behaviour and the use of illicit substances. Various studies have been

conducted in an attempt to explain what is considered to be the moral

decline of adolescents’. The aim of the research was to investigate the

relationship between moral behaviour and factors that impact adolescent’s

development such as the area of residence, being a boy or girl, and parental

support. The research was also faced with the job of understanding how

adolescents’ perceive their adolescent years and its contribution to moral

development. The study made use of both qualitative and quantitative

methods. The quantitative section consisted of an identity development

assessment, the moral development assessment and the biographical

questionnaire. The qualitative section consisted of the structured interview.

The results of the current study showed that identity formation as well as

mother-adolescent relationship does facilitate moral development. The

results also indicated that adolescents who do perceive their adolescent years

as difficult, attributed this difficulty to problems at home such as financial

problems or an increase in responsibility as opposed to problems with peers.

It was concluded that in order to enhance moral development in adolescents

we need to focus on providing an optimal home environment and a peer

group that holds values that are similar to the values held by parents.

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Research rationale:

Adolescence as a period is filled with development issues such as hormonal changes and

transitional problems, which tend to leave adolescents feeling confused. It is also the period

when autonomy and identity begin to establish; because of this adolescents typically display a

change from preadolescent behaviour. Many adolescents now begin to experiment with

substances and engage in risky behaviour and crime resulting in various problems. Just by

glancing at your daily newspaper you can see the shocking state of adolescents’ moral

behaviour and values. According to BBC News some 182 000 teenagers fall pregnant every

year and the majority never go back to finish their schooling. This is besides the high number

of adolescents suffering of substance dependency and criminal behaviour.

The lack of morality displayed by adolescents is not only a contextual problem but a global

one and it calls for urgent intervention. In a country rife with social and political problems,

such as high rates of poverty, unemployment, HIV and so forth, it is necessary that we create

a generation of adolescents who will tackle these problems and not contribute to it. One

method of ensuring adolescents’ overcomes these problems and not become part of the

problem is to regenerate positive morals. It is therefore important that we sufficiently

understand what factors are related to moral behaviour and how we can facilitate or

manipulate such factors in an attempt to increase moral development.

There has been various research conducted on morality of adolescents in an attempt to

understand and cease moral decay. There is a need for a comprehensive study of how factors

outside of the individuals control and ideologies contribute to the lack of moral behaviour

displayed by adolescents. This study’s sample has to be large enough to represent the entire

South African adolescent population, thereby allowing us to draw conclusions about the

South African adolescent population. Hence the results of this study can be used to create

intervention programs in an attempt to combat this moral decline of adolescents.

Research problem: I will be exploring the moral development of 20 adolescents at a High

School in the Western Cape with the aim of understanding how they perceive their adolescent

years and its contribution to moral development.

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Literature review

Introduction

Adolescence is a time that is usually filled with development issues such as hormonal

changes and transitional problems, which leave adolescents feeling confused. There are many

factors that influence or drive adolescents to engage in moral behaviour. (Hardy & Carlo,

2005). The term 'morality' can be used descriptively to refer to a code of conduct put forward

by a society, group or individual and, normatively, to refer to a code of conduct that, given

specified conditions, would be put forward by all rational persons (Aspin 2000 :16; in Stoop,

2005). Identity can be defined as “a complex concept which encompasses people’s images of

themselves, including the feeling that a thread of continuity runs through their lives, and that

their self-images and the views others have of them are essentially in agreement. (Erikson,

1963: 1261; Roazen, 1976:25, as stated in Meyer, Moore & Viljoen, 2008)

In the following review I will be looking at previous research and work done in the field of

adolescent identity development and moral development. I will also be looking at other

factors that can either serve as promoting or inhibiting moral development during

adolescence. By doing this I will show how the current study builds on previous research and

how it can contribute to delineating the moral decay of adolescents.

Identity & moral development

Identity development theories

Erikson’s theory of 1950 is one of the most influential developmental theories to date and

postulates that during adolescence individuals are faced with trying to figure out who they are

by developing a separate identity from their parents.

Erikson proposed a sequence of stages that the individual will pass through,

and at each stage a critical aspect of the personality is formed. The first stage is

the development of ‘trust versus mistrust’, the second ‘autonomy versus shame

and doubt’, the third stage is ‘initiative versus guilt’, the forth is ‘industry

versus inferiority’. The 5th

stage is the ‘identity-formation versus identity-

diffusion’. These developmental stages are as a result of both genetic and

social factors. (Meyer, Moore & Viljoen, 2008)

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Erikson theorises that identity is a result of both social and genetic factors, and that

development follows a genetic sequence similar to the sequence of our physiological

development, in that certain personal needs and characteristics emerge and are dominant at

certain ages. (Meyer, Moore & Viljoen, 2008) Social factors are the demands placed on the

individual by society; in other words how society expects an individual at a certain age to act.

(Meyer et al, 2008)

During each stage of Erikson’s theory a conflict arises between personal needs and social

demands. On completion of successfully resolving this conflict, the individual will gain ego

strength. (Ochse & Plug, 1986: 1240) “The ego strength gained after satisfactory resolution

of the identity crisis results in characteristic reliability and fidelity.” (Meyer, Moore &

Viljoen, 2008:203) Ego-strength and identity play an important role in moral agency of

adolescents as well as moral development in general. (Crone, 2010)

The individual faces a ‘crisis’ regarding the formation of identity; a tension manifest in the

adolescent because he or she doesn’t know whether to take the role and be treated like a child

or adult. According to Crone (2010: 18) “at some times and context an adolescent might

wish to take on a more childlike persona, whereas in other situations they might be adamant

about their adult status and opt for autonomy”. According to Erikson (1968) as summarised

by Crone (2010: 18), “a balance is found within this tension through experimenting with

different roles and levels of maturity which lead to a more deliberate sense of understanding

one’s identity”. He uses the word deliberate to indicate that the adolescent must be conscious

and aware of his identity, which in turn creates order and a sense of meaning for life.

By giving his or her life meaning, an individual decides what aspects of life are important to

him or her and starts displaying a level of responsibility toward achieving or maintaining

these things. For example; if an adolescent coming from a struggling family decides that he

or she doesn’t want to be in the same financial situation as their parents and wants to have the

financial ability to give back to other struggling families, then they should take personal

responsibility for ensuring that they don’t end up in the same financial situation as their

parents by working hard at school and going on to study and getting a good job. This is

linked to both future orientation and responsibility judgement.

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Responsibility judgement & future orientation

Responsibility judgement as theorised by Blasi (1995; Walker, Olsen, Skalski & Basinger,

2011) is the first step toward making moral decisions, in that an individual decides whether or

not he or she needs to act on the problem. As the example above about gaining financial

stability indicates, the adolescent feels that struggling families are a personal moral concern

for him or her and therefore makes the decision to act. Future orientation on the other hand

refers to the ability to describe a person’s expectations and actions about the future. (Nurmi,

2005 as stated in Chen & Vazsonyi, 2011). Youth with pessimistic future expectations in the

family, education, or work domains have a greater personal vulnerability for involvement in

problem behaviour. Future orientation therefore influences the decision-making process of

engaging in problem behaviour. Immediate gratification can be seen as a motivational drive

behind many adolescent deviant and risk behaviour. Future orientation is therefore linked to

the ability to delay immediate gratification, which in turn inhibits these deviant and risk

behaviour. (Stoop, 2005) Thus the way adolescents’ view the future as well as their perceived

ability is a critical factor in the decision-making process. Research conducted by Steyn,

Badenhorst & Kamper (2010) on how adolescents view their future in South Africa found,

that in spite of current societal issues that South Africa is facing, such as high rates of

unemployment, crime, poverty and even the high mortality rate due to the AIDS pandemic,

adolescents nonetheless still remained optimistic about their future in South Africa. This

shows that these adolescents have a high level of resilience to overcome societal problems.

Resilience is tied to knowing yourself and your ability; hence it is a product of mature

identity.

Role of schemas in identity development

According to Erikson (1968) as summarised by Crone (2010: 21) the world seems confusing

through the eyes of the adolescent and they therefore create ideologies as a way of ordering

the world, that result in the creation of his or her schemas. It is therefore important that

adolescents believe that adults who succeed in life behave ethically. (Crone, 2010) This is

however a problem in impoverished neighbourhoods and schools, as adolescents see

gangsters and drug dealers as the ones who are successful because they are feared, have

money and lots of women, and are popular. This is a common ideology created by

adolescents living in impoverished neighbourhoods that lack positive role-models. The way

the adolescent sees the world is therefore important, as these schemas and ideologies about

him or herself and the world in general get integrated into the their identity. Research

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conducted by Lopez & Emmer (2002) in the United States on convicted adolescent-male

offenders corroborates this; they found that ideologies about gender-roles resulted in

‘justified’ crime. These ideologies postulates that it is acceptable for these adolescent males

to commit violent crime as either an act of revenge to right some wrong or as an avenue for

preserving their own identity or their gangs identity. Despite being aware of possible negative

legal consequences, these adolescents would not use alternative methods to deal with conflict.

(Lopez & Emmer, 2002)

Conclusion

These are just some of the factors that are at work during the identity development of

adolescents. Not knowing yourself, your goals, how society sees you and how you see

yourself, makes it hard to delay immediate gratification. Research by (Stoop, 2005; Chen &

Vazsonyi, 2011) has linked immediate gratification to engaging in risk behaviour and

deviancy which unlimitedly is linked to the decline of morality in adolescents.

Moral development theories

Piaget (1932) proposed a cognitive theory on moral development with two important stages;

the heteronomous stage which is characterised by strict adherence to authority and the

autonomous stage which is characterised by the understanding of rules and the ability

challenging the status quo. (Nucci, 1997 as summarised in Stoop, 2005) The ability to

challenge the status quo is what Stoop (2005) links to moral maturity as the following

indicates; “moral maturity is demonstrated by an ability to realise the relativity and fallibility

of viewpoints, a realization which is fostered by social interaction”. (Stoop, 2005: 77) A

common theme of morality is justice and following authority whereas moral maturity is

characterised by fairness and welfare. Kohlberg (1971) continued the research on moral

development and elaborated on this concept of moral reasoning by designing a moral stage

design that can measure moral development from his hierarchical theory. (Taylor, 1976) His

theory has 3 levels that are all divided into two stages, namely pre-conventional level, the

conventional level and post-conventional level. His theory differed from that of Piaget’s in

that Kohlberg (1971) theorised that moral development extends well into adulthood and he

also placed more importance on the role society played in moral development. (Stoop, 2005)

At stage one of the pre-conventional level, physical punishment or reward

determines its worth as individuals is not able to use moral reasoning. People

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at the second stage of this level are hedonistic and use people as objects for

their own pleasure. At stage three of the conventional level; individuals are

able to use moral reasoning but only include people from their immediate

circle, and they conform to the rules set by their reference groups. Someone at

the fourth stage will blindly follow the laws and rules imposed on him or her

by institutions or governments as this they subjectively view not getting into

trouble with the law as being the principle of good behaviour. At stage 5 of

the post-conventional level, we find people that are not dependent on the

approval of society or reference groups; they are rather concerned with the

well-being of individuals within society. The final stage, stage 6, is when

people have internalised principles that have been self-chosen and not forced

upon them.

(Taylor,1976:170)

The particular dynamics of a society influences what stages will be common in that society.

(Taylor, 1976) These stages therefore are influenced by environmental factors. As proposed

by Kohlberg, there are clear age differences regarding moral reasoning development and the

stage at which adolescents find themselves at. Early adolescents would understand moral

excellence more in terms of compliance with authority figures, whereas late adolescents

would understand it more in terms of living with integrity to moral ideals and virtues. (Hardy,

Walker, Olsen, Skalski & Basinger, 2011)

Moral reasoning and moral identity:

Research has primarily focused on either the cognitive aspect or the social aspect of moral

motivation. (Hardy & Carlo, 2005) The former posits that motivation and moral action is a

result of moral reasoning, whereas the latter posits that moral motivation and action depends

on the social context. (Hardy & Carlo, 2005) Only recently have there been an integrative

approach to the study of moral motivation.

Piaget has contributed significantly to the early field of moral development with his theory of

proper judgement that stipulates the importance of cognitive maturity in the child to be able

to distinguish between matters of right and wrong. (Stoop, 2005) Knowledge of what

constitutes right and wrong, good or bad does not necessary guarantee that that an adolescent

will apply this knowledge and act in the right or good way. This is corroborated by research

conducted by Swart (2009) on adolescents and how Christianity affects morality; he found

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that despite being influenced by Christianity as to what to perceive as right or wrong and

being aware that they would get punished by God for doing wrong, this was not always

enough to ensure that moral action on the part of these adolescents.

The need to act consistent with one’s identity is an important form of moral motivation,

however during the adolescent stage identity is still busy forming and moral action tends to

precede moral identity development. (Hardy & Carlo, 2005) This is because during

adolescence moral principles don’t necessarily motivate behaviour; rather behaviour is

motivated by outside influences.

Adolescents perception of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’, ‘good’ and ‘bad’

Research conducted by (Swartz (2007) in a Cape Town Township found that narratives about

what was wrong or right encompassed a social representation of morality. Space and place

was considered moral locations. For example these township adolescents associated sleeping

at home and not wondering the streets after 10pm as morally good, and not sleeping at home

at night as morally bad because gangsters are associated with not sleeping at home and to be

a gangster is ‘bad’. Here it is clear that an amoral activity can be represented as immoral. She

further discovered that these adolescents judged their own morality on a spectrum with bad

and good behaviour being at either end and not so bad or not so good behaviour found in the

middle. So when adolescents who commit ‘smaller’ crime such as breaking into cars or

shoplifting were asked if they considered themselves as morally good individuals, they

replied with yes because breaking into cars is not as bad as armed-robbery, murder or other

violent crimes. Swartz (2007)

It should however be noted that the research conducted by Swartz (2007) lacks

generalizability to all South African adolescents because the research sample is not a

representation of the multicultural South Africa. It is therefore important that the sample of

the current study be a representation of the population so that we are able to draw conclusions

about adolescents in South Africa.

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Factors that contribute towards moral and identity development

There are various definitions of morality but essentially it means a person’s or society’s view

of what is perceived to be right or wrong based on social or cultural norms. (Stoop, 2005; 22)

Because morality has a social underpinning, norms, ideologies, values and so forth are

transmitted by means of social agents such as parents, peers, and the media.

Peer influences:

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) In adolescence acting morally might not be seen as pro-social by

peers. Peer crowds serve an important developmental function during adolescence and are

therefore seen as a salient factor for moral behaviour. Peers have been identified as both

barriers and facilitators of pro-social activities such as commitment to school and abstinence

from substance use. (Dorham, 2005) Affiliation with a deviant peer group has been identified

as one of the strongest risk factors predicting maladaptive adolescent outcomes. (Dorham,

2005)

In the study conducted by Doornwaard, Branje, Meeus & te Bogt (2012), adolescents who

identified with ‘alternative’ and ‘urban’ nonconventional crowds reported significantly more

externalising and internalising problem behaviours, while adolescents who identified with

‘conventional’ and ‘achievement oriented’ crowds reported significantly less externalising

problem behaviour.

Here it is evident that by affiliating with deviant peer groups the adolescent assimilates some

salient aspects or behaviour of the group into their own identity which has an influence on

their morality. The morality of the people around you therefore contributes to your own

morality.

Parental-influence:

Parents are usually adolescents’ primary caregivers, and therefore they play an important role

in the approval of good behaviour and punishment of bad. Discipline is therefore an

important form of instilling desirable values and behaviour in the adolescent. (Crone, 2010)

Authoritarian, permissive and Neglect parenting styles can serve as risk factors for children to

inadequately develop moral identity. (Milevsky, Schlechter, Netter & Keehn, 2007) Parents

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with this type of parenting styles tend to be less interested and aware of what their child is

doing (Milevsky, et al. 2007).

White and Matawie (2004) researched the influence of parents on the development of

morality and found that 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. It was also found that family socialisation

processes of cohesion, adaptability and positive communication significantly predict

adolescent external morality. Fathers’ external morality significantly interacted with father-

adolescent cohesion and communication in predicting adolescent external morality.

Furthermore the family’s process of adaptability and family’s openness to communication

was found to be significant predictors of adolescent external morality. (White & Matawie,

2004) Adolescents involved in 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)

Conclusion

In summary, peers, parents and other social agents or institutions like the church and even the

media are significant sources of influence and support during adolescence.

The review indicates that morality and identity are closely related and that identity influences

morality and vice versa. There are numerous studies involving social factors and other

influences that direct the development of morality and identity in adolescents but there is a

lack of empirical research specifically in the South African context that explains the

relationship between moral development and identity development in adolescents. It is

therefore the job of the current study to delineate this relationship and show how the two

correlate and also investigate how gender, area of residence and so forth can contribute to the

decline in adolescents’ morality.

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Research question: Investigating the relationship between moral behaviour and factors such

as the area of residence, being a boy and parental support.

• Hypothesis 1: A strong level of identity formation correlates positively with a

higher level of morality in adolescence.

• Hypothesis 2: Boys and girls differ with regard to moral development.

• Hypothesis 3: Adolescents relationship with their mother positively correlates

with moral development.

• Hypothesis 4: significant correlation exist between where adolescents live and

moral development.

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Research methodology

Describing sample: Quantitative section

1721 adolescents participated in the present study, with 51.5% being female and 48.5% male.

All participants (n= 1721) were between the ages of 12 and 19 years, with an average age of

15.5 (SD= 1.775). With regard to age, if it were to be represented graphically it would be

negatively skewed because it would peak at 17 due to the majority of the participants (n=

1721) being 17 years old.

The sample (n= 1686) resided in various parts of the country; with 46.7% in a residing in a

city, 31.3% in a town near a city, 9.5% in a town in the country, 5.0% in a small holding near

a city, 3.9% in a small holding in the country and a further 3.5% residing on a farm.

11.3% of the participants (n= 1696) said they were the only child, 37.1% said they were the

eldest, 17.3% second youngest, 8.4% third and higher, and 25.9% said they were the

youngest child.

The maximum number of children in the family was 16 with the minimum being 1. The

average amount of children 2.93 (SD= 1.547), (n= 1692) participants answered this question.

The majority of the participants (n= 1695) lived with both parents (58.7%), 24.4% with the

mother only, 3.9% with the father only, 4.4% with their grandparents, 3.6% with other

relatives and 4.2% lives with non-relatives.

Describing sample: Qualitative section

The UNISA psychology honours students were faced with the job of each finding 20

adolescents who were willing to participate in the current study. I approached my former high

school principal and asked him if I could conduct my research at the school. After permission

was granted he then provided me with a sample of students who he thought represented the

population of the school in terms of race, academic performance and behaviour. Because the

students were all under the age of 18, I gave them consent forms and requested that both they

and their parents sign it and that it should be returned to either the principal or me.

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Procedures

Participants (n= 1721) were sampled from various parts of South Africa. Issues of

confidentiality and anonymity were discussed with all participants prior to the interviews.

Because the current research was conducted on adolescents under the age of 18, all

participants were required to have their parents sign the consent form prior to participating in

the research study. Participants were interviewed and had to complete the Identity and Moral

Development questionnaires with the help of UNISA students. The interviews and the

completing of the questionnaires were conducted at a private place where participants could

freely answer the questions without being interrupted.

Measures & Data Analysis

All participants (n= 1721) were asked to complete the questionnaire which was made up of 4

sections; section A the biographical questionnaire, section B Erikson’s identity scale

assessment, section C Kohlberg’s moral development assessment and section D the structured

interview.

Biographical questionnaire

The biographical questionnaire was used to gather general information about the participants

of the study such as their age, where and with whom they live, their parents’ occupation, the

amount of children in the household and so forth. This information was used to describe my

sample and also some of it was used as an independent variable to see if any differences

existed in moral development.

Moral development

Moral development assessment was done using Kohlberg’s moral hierarchical theory. The

design of the instrument however only uses stage 2 to 5 of his theory by making provision for

one pre-conventional, two conventional and one post-conventional stage. The reason for

excluding stage 1 is because of the infrequency of this stage’s occurrence in the western

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culture, and the reason for the exclusion of stage 6 is that stage 6 and 5 are loaded on a single

dimension and therefore people at stage 6 will endorse stage 5 in preference to stage 2, 3 and

4.

The assessment was made up of 15 items each with a story about people who took certain

actions or made a certain decision. After each story four possible reasons why the person

made the particular decision were provided. The participants were then presented with six

boxes that each contained a paired-comparison (two of the four possible reasons for the

decision) and had to choose one of the two possible reasons for each of the six boxes for all

15 items. Each possible reason was associated with one of Kohlberg’s moral stages. The

amount of times a participant chose a stage was calculated and used to determine what stage

of Kohlberg’s moral hierarchy he or she functions at the most.

The frequencies of the four moral stages are as follows; out of (n=1721) participants 21%

were at stage 2 (pre-conventional stage) of moral development, 22% at stage 3 (conventional

stage), 37.6% at stage 4 (conventional stage) and 19.5% at stage 5 (post-conventional stage)

of Kohlberg’s moral development.

Identity development

The Erikson Identity Scale was used to assess the (n=1721) participants level of identity

development. The scale is made up of 32-item likert statements; participants had to choose

their level of agreement with each statement. Only 19 of the 32-items were used to assess the

participants’ identity development (The other 13items were fillers).The four options were

never, only occasionally/seldom, fairly often, and very often. Each option was associated with

a number between 1 and 4. All the chosen options were then calculated to get an identity

score. The minimum identity score possible is 19 and the maximum 76. A higher total mark

indicates a stronger level of identity formation and a lower mark indicates a lower level of

identity formation and even identity confusion. The mean score was 55.26 with a SD of 8.830

for the 19 items.

The identity scale has been demonstrated as psychometrically sound among adolescents with

a very reliable internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha= 8.34). According to Anastasi (1982

as stated by Pretorious, 2007:339) “reliabilities above 0.70 should be considered very

reliable”.

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Structured interview

The structured interview was based on section D of the questionnaire. It contained seven

items starting from question two to eight. Here adolescents’ perception of values and the

future were the salient factors that the interview questions were structured around.

Participants were interviewed individually in a vacant classroom at the high school where I

conducted my research. I informed them that if they felt uncomfortable answering a question

or if they need me to explain a question that they should tell me. The answers the participants

provided me with were recorded below each question on the questionnaire. I then did a

content analysis on the recorded responses of the interview.

Ethics

I ensured that the autonomy of all persons and institutions involved in the current study was

respected by not including any names or personal details that could be linked back to any

person or institution. I also ensured that no harm or wrong befell any person or institution

involved in the study by requesting permission from both the school and parents of the

participants and making known what my research is about.

The results of my findings can be used in interventions directed at ceasing the decline of

adolescents’ moral behaviour thereby creating a better future for all South Africans. Hence

the participants involved will benefit and so too will schools.

Results

Quantitative

The relationship between identity formation and moral formation in adolescents

The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to explore the relationship between identity

development (independent variable) and moral development (dependent variable).

There is a positive correlation between the two variables. The size of the relationship is 0.81

which means that there is a high correlation with a marked relationship between identity

formation and moral formation in adolescents.

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The relationship between the two variables, Identity formation and moral formation are

significant and not due to chance. My sig value was 0.002, which is less than 0.01 (.002 <

0.01). I can therefore conclude with a level of 99% confidence that identity formation

positively facilitates moral development in adolescents.

Relationship with their mother positively correlates with moral development

The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) was used to explore the relationship between

adolescents’ relationship with their mother (IV) and moral development (DV). There is a

positive correlation between the two variables. The size of the relationship is 0.061 which

means that there is a moderate correlation with a substantial relationship between

adolescents’ relationship with their mother (IV) and moral development (DV).

The relationship between my two variables adolescents’ relationship with their mother (IV)

and moral development (DV) are significant and not due to chance. The sig. value = 0.012,

which is less than 0.05 (.012< .05). I can therefore conclude with 95% confidence that a

relationship with your mother during adolescence does facilitate moral development.

Is there a difference between boys and girls and their morality?

An independent-samples t-test was conducted to compare moral development (dependable

variable) in boys (independent variable 1) and girls (independent variable 2).

There is no significant difference between the scores for boys (M= 3.52, SD= 1.034) and the

scores for girls (M= 3.59, SD= 1.021) on moral development; (t) 1719= -1.49, p = .135

I will be concluding that there is no significant difference between adolescent girls and boys

moral development (.135>0.05), or in other words, that boys and girls do not differ in terms

of their moral development during adolescence.

Is there a significant correlation between where adolescents live and moral development

One-way between-groups ANOVAs (analysis of variance) were used to determine if there are

a significant difference between participants’ residence (Independent variable) and moral

development (Dependent variable).

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There is a significant effect of adolescents residence (IV) on moral development (DV) at the

p<.05 level for the six areas of residence [F(5, 1680) = 3.313, p = 0.006].

Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that the mean moral development

score for the city residence group (M = 3.66, SD = 1.015) was significantly different than the

town near city residence group (M = 3.45, SD = 1.032). The two residences being compared

are city and town near city, have a significant value of 0.005 (p<0.05). The differences

between city and town near city means are not likely due to chance and are probably due to

the moral development (independent variable) manipulation.

We can therefore conclude that adolescents living in the city differ from those living in town

near city in terms of their moral development. There was however no difference found

among the other residence groups in terms of moral development.

Qualitative

Content analysis of the structured interview

Section D of my questionnaire contained the structured interview. I performed a content

analysis on the data gathered from the 7 items of my interview with my sample (n=20).

When the participants were asked the question “how do you feel about your future” the

responses could be broken up into three categories; those that felt afraid and their response

contained a negative connotation about the future, secondly those that felt strongly and

optimistic about their future and their responses had a positive connotation regarding their

future, and finally those who felt uncertain and haven’t given it much thought hence their

responses were linked to a neutral connotation. Three of my participants fell in the nervous

and afraid group and a further three fell in the unsure group. The remaining participants (14)

fell in the positive group that contained statements like “feels strongly about their future”,

“need to make a success of my life” and “need to make my parents proud”.

The next question asked was “how do you feel about the morality of young people in South

Africa”. Here 17 participants felt negative about the behaviour of the youth of South Africa

and made statements like; “they are not well behaved and have no respect for adults, a lack

of ambition, weak willed and does things just to fit in”. The remaining 3 participants’

responses has a lesser negative connotation and included statements like “not everyone is

bad, being split between good and bad, and that our generation has a range of possibilities

it’s just that there’s a lack of direction”.

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The 3rd

question asked “how do they feel about South Africa’s future and if they will be able

to contribute to it”. Here the majority of the participants (n=12) felt that South Africa is

currently in a decline as is evident by the high crime rate, unemployment, teenage pregnancy

and other social ills, but that change is nonetheless possible and that they will be able to

contribute to it. When asked how they would contribute to it the participants responded with

statements like “becoming successful and giving talks about how others can become

successful too”, “and providing extra lessons thereby keeping youth off the streets”. Six

participants felt that we are doomed by social ills and will not be able to contribute to South

Africa’s future. A further two participants felt unsure about South Africa and whether they

will be able to make a contribution.

Item 4 (Question 5 in section D) of the interview asked the question “do you ever experience

your adolescent years as difficult”. Seven participants said that they always experience their

adolescent years as difficult and attributed it to “school being too difficult”, “having an

increased responsibility” , “difficulty fitting in with peers”, “financial problems” and so forth.

The remaining thirteen participants all occasionally experienced their adolescent years a

difficult time. What was surprising in this category was that a significant amount of

participants (n=9) attributed their occasional unhappiness to problems at home such as

parents struggling financially, parents pressuring them to make a success, an increased

responsibility at home and so forth.

In item 5 of the interview (Question 6 in section D) participants were asked “to what extent

do they accept the values of their parents”. One participant said that she does not accept their

values at all because they are not role models for her. Nine participants said that they accept

their parents values completely and the common reasons for this was; their parents won’t

teach them wrong, their parents know best, not wanting to disappoint their parents and

wanting to make their parents proud. The remaining ten participants said that they accept

their parents values to a certain extent and their reasons for this was that “sometimes their

values are just too much and they expect too much and therefore its best to use your own

discretion”, “they know right from wrong but no one is perfect”, “and times have changed”.

The sixth item (Question 7 in section D) asked the question “to what extent do you accept the

values of your friends”. None of my participants said that they accept the friends’ values

completely and only two of my participants said that they do not accept their values. Their

reasoning for not accepting their friends values were that they wanted to be like gangsters and

that their friends are bad. Surprisingly eighteen of my participants said that they accept their

friends’ values to a certain extent. Their reasons for this varied but the common reasons were;

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“friends can lead you astray and get you into trouble”, “some have good intentions and you

can learn from one another”, “at times they can be supportive and want the best for you and

at other times they can do a 360 degree turn and land you in trouble for their own benefit”.

The final question, item eight of the questionnaire asked participants to name three values

which they felt are important guidelines for their own behaviour. Three of the most

mentioned values among my participants are respect, honesty and obeying their parents.

Discussion and conclusion

The following is a discussion of the quantitative findings of the current project.

Both the relationship with their mother and identity formation was found to be positively

correlated with moral development in adolescents’. I therefore accept both hypotheses; “A

strong level of identity formation correlates positively with a higher level of morality in

adolescence” and “Adolescents relationship with their mother positively correlates with

moral development”. In other words both having a relationship with mother and having a

sense of identity could facilitate higher moral development in adolescents. We therefore have

to find ways of enhancing identity formation. One way that this can be done is to create

positive role models thereby showing them that it is good people who succeed in life. One

way of enhancing mother-adolescent relationship is to make mothers aware of the different

parenting styles and that authoritative parenting style is associated with the warmth and

understanding relationships as opposed to control and lack or overly warmth relationship.

There was no difference in boys’ and girls’ moral development and therefore I reject my

hypothesis “Boys and girls do differ significantly with regard to moral development”.

Essentially this means that factors that are enhancing the decline of moral behaviour are not

gender based and therefore neither should intervention programs. This does however not

mean that intervention programs should not take into account gender roles when creating the

intervention. As the results of certain moral behaviour does discriminate against gender, as is

the case with teenage pregnancy; both the father and mother have engaged in risky behaviour

in the form of unprotected sexual intercourse but teen pregnancy usually has a greater impact

on the mother who is often forced to leave school and is ostracised.

The final hypothesis significant difference exists between where adolescents live and moral

development has also been accepted. A significant difference existed between adolescents’

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moral development of those who lived in the ‘city’ and those that lived in a ‘town near city’.

There were no significant differences between other areas of residence. This means that

people living in a ‘town near city’ would have significantly less morality then adolescents

residing in the ‘city’.

We now look at the findings and conclusions drawn from the structured interview.

Adolescents who felt that their adolescent years were only ‘occasionally difficult’ all

attributed their occasional unhappiness to financial problems at home and other family

problems. I can therefore conclude that adolescents who feel that their adolescent years are

only difficult occasionally do not experience social problems such as difficulty fitting in with

peers and being bullied.

Therefore we can say that adolescent problems can be broken down into two broad

categories, those related to their peers such as fitting in with their desired group, being treated

fair and respectful peers and so forth. The second category is related to their family and

includes financial problems, marriage problems, too much responsibility, and lack of trust

and so forth. Also when it came to accepting their parents’ values; many participants felt that

they do accept it but to a certain extend. From examining their reasons, I once again deduced

that ‘family’ only makes up one part of adolescents life and experiences, and that the’ peer’

category makes up the other half. More research should be conducted to delineate these broad

categories.

Respect was found to be the most mentioned value that participants’ regarded as a guideline

for their own behaviour. This value can be seen as the baseline of morality and it can be used

as evidence to indicate that despite having values and wanting to abide by them many act

contrary to what they claim to be a central guideline of their behaviour. The reason for this is

that many factors which motivate moral behaviour are complex and at any one time more

than simply values can be at play when a decision is made. Hence the reason for many

adolescents and even adults for behaving in ways which they no is wrong and later regret.

The participants of my study displayed a strong future orientation in that current problems

were seen as a motivator to achieve success and not as a reason for not obtaining success.

The morality of adolescents is definitely in a decline and even adolescent recognise it. Many

of my participants felt that their adolescent counterparts that give in to peer-pressure and

engage in maladaptive behaviour are weak-willed. It’s more than just being weak-willed and

as I previously mentioned; social life is one of the two broad categories that direct both affect

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and behaviour. The social category contains peer relationships, peer values and ideologies,

how adolescent want to be seen by their peers, acceptance by peers and so forth. Included in

the family category are family relations, family problems, financial problems, family

ideologies and values, the need to make your family proud and so forth. A category can be in

rival with another as in the case when adolescents neglect to act on principles that were

instilled in them by their family in an attempt to be accepted or see as your desired self by

peers.

If we are to create an adolescent generation with high moral behaviour then we need to

ensure that both these categories have the utmost positive influence on behaviour and affect

as possible.

I will be concluding that in order to enhance moral development in adolescents we need to

focus on providing an optimal home environment and a peer group that holds values that are

similar to the values held by parents. Also it is important to swamp the adolescent with

positive role models; their ideologies, how they got to where they are and so forth. This will

replace faulty ideologies held by adolescents that being ‘gangster’ is attractive and also

introduce them to different identities roles which all have positive influences on behaviour.

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Appendix A

The consent forms

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