The moral judgment of juvenile delinquents: a meta-analysis.

Full Abstract

A meta-analysis of 50 studies was conducted to investigate whether juvenile delinquents use lower levels of moral judgment than their nondelinquent age-mates and, if so, what factors may influence or moderate the developmental delay. The results show a lower stage of moral judgment for juvenile delinquents (d=.76). Effect sizes were large for comparisons involving male offenders, late adolescents, delinquents with low intelligence, and incarcerated delinquents. The largest effect sizes were found for period of incarceration and comparisons involving juvenile delinquents with psychopathic disorder. Production instead of recognition measures, dilemma-free assessment methods, and non-blind scoring procedures yielded relatively large effect sizes, whereas effect sizes were medium for comparisons involving delinquents with average intelligence, non-incarcerated delinquents, female offenders, as well as early and middle adolescents. Psychopathic disorder and institutionalization were identified as unique moderators of the link between moral judgment and juvenile delinquency. It is concluded that developmentally delayed moral judgment is strongly associated with juvenile delinquency, even after controlling for socioeconomic status, gender, age and intelligence.

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Author information

Author/s: Stams, Geert Jan (GJ); Brugman, Daniel (D); Dekovic, Maja (M); van Rosmalen, Lenny (L); van der Laan, Peter (P); Gibbs, John C (JC);

Affiliation: Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Department of Education, P.O. Box 94208, 1090 GE, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. G.J.J.M.Stams(-atsign-)uva.nl

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Meta-Analysis; Review

Journal: Journal of abnormal child psychology (J Abnorm Child Psychol), published in United States. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2006-Oct; vol 34 (issue 5) : pp 697-713

Dates: Created 2006/11/10; Completed 2007/03/13;

PMID: 17048108, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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