Associations between moral identity, social goal orientations, and moral decisions in adolescents

ABSTRACT

Adolescence is a time in which peers gain in importance and more time is spent engaging in social interactions with them. Within these interactions, adolescents will also be confronted with moral dilemmas, in which moral decisions need to be taken. The aim of the current study was to examine two factors that may influence moral decisions, namely moral identity and social goal orientations. The sample consisted of 455 adolescents (251 girls), with ages ranging from 10 to 18 (M_Age = 14.11, SD_Age = 1.79), who completed questionnaires. In line with the hypotheses, there was a significant positive association between moral identity and moral decisions, and communal goals and moral decisions; there was also a significant negative association between agentic goals and moral decisions. We propose that both moral identity and social goal orientations be added to the social information processing-moral decision-making framework, and further theorize about the relation between constructs in the database. We discuss the findings from a development perspective and provide first ideas for practical implications.

KEYWORDS:

• Moral identity
• social goal orientations
• moral decisions
• adolescence

Data available on request from the authors

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Informed consent statement

Approval was obtained from the university’s institutional review board and data protection officer, as well as the regional school authority board. Both parents and adolescents provided informed consent before participating in the study.

Additional information

Funding

The authors received no relevant financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.