Family influences on the formation of moral identity in adolescence: Longitudinal analyses

A model of moral identity formation is presented. According to the model, f amily influences have a direct effect on moral identity development in adol escence, independent of the effects of personality, income and other factor s. The model is tested using longitudinal data from the National Longitudin al Survey of Youth (Child Sample), which is constituted of the children bor n to a representative sample of American women who were between the ages of 14 and 21 in 1979. In general, the results provide support for the model. Cognitively and socially rich family Environments, combined with high level s of parent-adolescent joint activity, were found to facilitate voluntary p articipation in community service, a marker of moral identity formation. Th e implications of these findings for parenting, moral education and future research are discussed.