A person-centered approach to moral motivations during emerging adulthood: Are all forms of other-orientation adaptive?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore other-oriented motivations for moral behavior, including community orientation and fear of negative evaluation from others and to examine how differences in the way that these motivations are balanced might be linked to prosocial behavior, identity development and well-being. Participants included 550 university students from four different universities across the United States (M age = 19.87, SD = 2.00; 333 females). The majority of the respondents were Caucasian (60.9%), living away from home (89%). Results of latent profile analyses revealed four classes: ‘low other-orientation’, ‘high fear, moderate community’, ‘high community, low fear’ and ‘high other-orientation’. These groups differed in meaningful ways on measures of prosocial behavior, identity development and well-being.

Keywords:

• moral motivations
• prosocial behaviors
• identity development
• well-being
• emerging adults