EVALUATION OF THEFT, LYING, AND FIGHTING IN ADOLESCENCE

The nature of age and gender differences in the evaluation of three ev eryday immoral behaviors was analyzed with a 21-item questionnaire. Th e items included examples of theft, lying, and fighting expressed both as omissions and commissions, commissions further specified with posi tive motives, negative motives, duress, or provocation. Three age grou ps were included in the study: preadolescents, midadolescents, and lat e adolescents (N = 2594). The most important findings were that boys a ccepted all immoral acts better than girls, the ''immoral peak'' in mi dadolescence, the low differentiation between the different types of a cts in preadolescence, and the flexible usage of different rationales in middle and late adolescence.