NCJ Number
101859
Journal
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology Volume: 54 Issue: 2 Dated: (1986) Pages: 208-216
Date Published
1986
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Because delinquents have consistently been shown to function at lower stages of moral reasoning than nondelinquents, it was hypothesized that adolescents at risk for juvenile delinquency would benefit both cognitively and behaviorally from an intervention designed to accelerate moral reasoning development.
Abstract
Subsequent to participation in a cognitively based moral reasoning development program (16-20 weekly 45-minute sessions), adolescents identified by teachers as aggressive and/or disruptive (compared with matched and randomly assigned nonparticipating controls) demonstrated (a) advance in moral reasoning stage and (b) improvement on several behavioral indexes, including behavior referrals, tardiness, academic performance, and police/court contacts (results approached significance for teacher ratings). For a subgroup, 1-year followup data showed significant effects for moral reasoning, behavior referrals, and academic performance, as well as teacher ratings and absenteeism. Moral reasoning change scores were associated with all outcome change scores for pre- to posttest and with grades for posttest to followup. (Publisher abstract)