Moral valuation: a third domain of conscience functioning.

OBJECTIVE

To assess development of moral valuation in normal children and adolescents, that is, how moral rules for living are derived and justified, and to examine the relationship of this progression with previously identified stages of conceptualization of conscience.

METHOD

Using three semistructured questions from the Stilwell Conscience Interview, 132 normal volunteers between the ages of 5 and 17 years were assessed. All moral valuation responses were examined within three aspects of social reference: authority-derived, self-derived, and peer-derived. Each aspect was scaled for complexity into six anchored levels.

RESULTS

The levels of all three aspects correlated positively with conceptualization stages as well as with each other. When the covariate, age, was taken into consideration, peer-derived valuation was significantly correlated with both age and stage.

CONCLUSIONS

Moral valuation is a domain of conscience functioning in which moral rules and their justifications are socially referenced in relationship to authority, self, and peers. Anchored levels of these three aspects of moral valuation provide developmental guidelines for mental status examinations in patients between 5 and 17 years of age as well as providing criteria for future comparative studies in various diagnostic categories of psychopathology.