THE IMPACT OF POLITICAL VIOLENCE ON MORAL REASONING IN CHILDREN

Objective: The moral development of three groups of children, who had been subjected to varying degrees of political violence and economic a dvantage, was examined in an attempt to determine if group membership or gender influenced the level of moral reasoning or orientation. Meth od: Ninety-three 8- to 13-year-old Israeli Jewish and Bedouin school c hildren, and Palestinian West Bank school children were asked various moral reasoning questions based on an animal fable involving a moral d ilemma under three (hypothetical, role-taking, political) conditions. Results: Results indicate that mutuality solutions to moral dilemmas w ere given more frequently by Israeli Jewish children than Israeli Bedo uin or Palestinian children as the questions shifted from abstract to real-life situations. No significant gender differences were found bet ween Jewish children and Bedouin children in hypothetical issues; howe ver, violence and limited resources were found to affect moral judgmen t in real-life situations for boys, but not for girls. Conclusions: Th ese findings supported the hypothesis that moral reasoning in children is significantly linked to real-life situations and resources. The re sults were discussed in terms of their relevance to future researchers and the manner in which children interpret moral questions. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.