The present study examined the influence of the
demographic variables of age, gender, major in college, and
level of education or class standing on individuals' stage
of moral development. Trevino's interactionist model,
combined with the basic principles of cognitive moral
development, provided the theoretical basis for this study.
One-hundred and forty-four university students, representing
business, home economics, and liberal arts majors,
participated in this qualitative study.
The research instrument used was the Sociomoral
Reflection Measure (SMR), designed to measure an
individual's level of moral development. The SMR considered
four stages of moral development: 1) unilateral and
simplistic, 2) exchanging and instrumental, 3) mutual and
prosocial, and 4) systemic and standard, in addition to
three transitional stages: a) transition 1/2, b) transition
2/3, and c) transition 3/4. The stage achieved indicated an
individual's level of moral maturity.
One-way analysis of variance statistics were performed
to test the research hypotheses. Frequencies and
percentages were also calculated for both the demographic
and sociomoral stage data with regard to the total sample.
Analogous with previous research, findings indicated
that age directly related to an individual's current stage
of moral development. Concurrently, the class standing
variable also was found to influence one's stage of moral
development.
Conversely, the remaining demographic variables tested
differed from previous studies, failing to prove
significant. A collegian's choice of major was not found to
influence stage of moral development achieved. Furthermore,
the impact of gender-based differences on stage of moral
development did not appear to be of significance. / Graduation date: 1995
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ORGSU/oai:ir.library.oregonstate.edu:1957/35242 |
| Date | 27 September 1994 |
| Creators | Coglas, Melinda C. |
| Contributors | Jordan, Cheryl L. |
| Source Sets | Oregon State University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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