Moral Development in Adolescence
JOURNAL OF RESEARCH ON ADOLESCENCE, 15(3), 223–233 Copyright r 2005, Society for Research on Adolescence
Moral Development in Adolescence
Daniel Hart
Rutgers University
Gustavo Carlo
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Themes in the papers in this special issue of the JRA on moral development are identified. We discuss the intersection of moral development research with policy concerns, the distinctive qualities of moral life in adolescence that warrant investigation, the multiple connotations of ‘‘moral,’’ the methods typical of moral development research, and the influences that shape adolescent moral development. Suggestions are made for new methods and new directions in the study of moral development.
Moral development in adolescence has reached maturity as an area of research. This special issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence, which collects some of the very best investigations on adolescent moral development, is one indication. Expansive reviews of the large literature will also appear in the Handbook of Moral Development (Killen & Smetana, in press), the Handbook of Child Development (Damon, in press), and in the most recent volume in the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation series (Carlo & Edwards, in press). Moreover, there are hundreds of research papers related to moral development in adolescence appearing each year, many of which escape synthesis in the various reviews and collections just mentioned.
THE INTERSECTION OF MORALITY AND ADOLESCENCE Why has moral development in adolescence become such a popular topic among researchers? There are political and theoretical reasons for the
Requests for reprints should be sent to Daniel Hart, Center for Children and Childhood Studies, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, 08102. E-mail: daniel.hart@rutgers.edu
224
HART AND CARLO
attention paid to moral development. The political reason is that research is influenced by public opinion particularly through federal funding of research, and
Moral Development in Adolescence
Daniel Hart
Rutgers University
Gustavo Carlo
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Themes in the papers in this special issue of the JRA on moral development are identified. We discuss the intersection of moral development research with policy concerns, the distinctive qualities of moral life in adolescence that warrant investigation, the multiple connotations of ‘‘moral,’’ the methods typical of moral development research, and the influences that shape adolescent moral development. Suggestions are made for new methods and new directions in the study of moral development.
Moral development in adolescence has reached maturity as an area of research. This special issue of the Journal of Research on Adolescence, which collects some of the very best investigations on adolescent moral development, is one indication. Expansive reviews of the large literature will also appear in the Handbook of Moral Development (Killen & Smetana, in press), the Handbook of Child Development (Damon, in press), and in the most recent volume in the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation series (Carlo & Edwards, in press). Moreover, there are hundreds of research papers related to moral development in adolescence appearing each year, many of which escape synthesis in the various reviews and collections just mentioned.
THE INTERSECTION OF MORALITY AND ADOLESCENCE Why has moral development in adolescence become such a popular topic among researchers? There are political and theoretical reasons for the
Requests for reprints should be sent to Daniel Hart, Center for Children and Childhood Studies, Rutgers University, Camden, NJ, 08102. E-mail: daniel.hart@rutgers.edu
224
HART AND CARLO
attention paid to moral development. The political reason is that research is influenced by public opinion particularly through federal funding of research, and