Predicting adolescent moral reasoning from family climate: A longitudinal study

The climate of parental interactions with adolescents at 14 years of age, a nd its longitudinal prediction to adolescent moral reasoning at 16 years of age, was studied in 40 Canadian families. Three measures of family climate were obtained, including the authoritative parenting style construct of Ba umrind, the transactive dialogue measure of Berkowitz and Gibbs, and a nove l index of responsiveness to the "child's voice" in the stories told by par ents about moral socialization, based on the sociocultural theory of Vygots ky and Bakhtin. Greater operational transact use in Time I discussions by f athers was predictive of gains in moral reasoning for children older than t he 2 years. For mothers, stronger indications of responsiveness to the chil d's voice in stories told when children were 14 years of age also predicted gains over lime in moral reasoning for adolescents. Most generally, result s indicated the need to delineate more fully the role of each parent in the moral socialization process.