The development of moral reasoning in urban, high-social class families from Gujarat, India: A longitudinal study from middle childhood to late adolescence

Abstract

The aims of the present study were to quantitatively test hypotheses based on the cultural-developmental approach among children and adolescents in Vadodara, India, and to use qualitative analyses to examine the use of indigenous moral concepts. The study included 72 participants who were interviewed at two different age points, separated by approximately 4.5 years. At Time 1, participants were in middle childhood (M_age = 8.22 years) and in early adolescence (M_age = 11.54 years). At Time 2, the same participants were in early adolescence (M_age = 12.87 years) and late adolescence (M_age = 15.77 years). Three findings stood out: (1) As expected, the degree of use of Autonomy increased over the course of adolescence, as did the types of moral concepts. (2) The degree of use of Community significantly increased from middle childhood to adolescence. Duty, within Community was evoked prominently and consistently across all age points suggesting that aspects of social membership emerge early in Indian children's moral reasoning and remain important through adolescence. (3) The use of Divinity was prominent in middle childhood and its use decreased significantly through early adolescence; with a trend for a decrease in its use from early to late adolescence. While much of the reasoning in middle childhood was dominated by a concern for Punishment Avoidance from God, by adolescence Customary Traditional Authority and God's Authority gained prominence. Findings highlight aspects of adolescent moral reasoning that are largely missing in Western studies and point to the utility of emic, indigenous approaches to study moral development.