Moral development of adolescents from single-parent and two-parent family structure

Abstract

The study was conducted to find out the moral development of adolescents from single-parent and two-parent families, the gender differences in adolescent moral development, the themes of adolescent moral reasoning, and the influences of the family in adolescent moral reasoning. Using a mixed method approach, 98 students from the University of the Philippines Visayas, Miag-ao campus answered the Moral Judgment Test. Out of the 98, eight participants were chosen to take part in the in-depth interview. The instruments used were the demographic survey to determine the family structure that the participants belonged to, the Moral Judgment Test to determine the moral development of the adolescents, and an interview guide where a Kohlberg Dilemma was presented to look for moral reasoning themes, and to gather pertinent information about their families. Results showed that family structure and gender do not have significant effects on the moral development of adolescents F(l, 94) =0.51, p =.48. No significant main effects [F (1,94) = 0.21, p = .65 and F (1, 94) = 0, p = .99] were likewise observed for family structure and gender, respectively. The Moral Judgment Test mean scores showed that the adolescents of this study fall under the medium level. Qualitative data revealed that the moral reasoning patterns of the adolescents are characterized by an emphasis on relationships, indicating a morality of care. On the other hand, a morality of justice was emphasized by adolescents in cases when dilemma pertaining to facts was presented. The influence of the family as the initial context within which adolescents first learn about morality was highlighted. The results above indicate that Filipino adolescents from two-parent and singleparent family structure are of the same moral development level and moral reasoning. In contrast with studies relating family structure and adolescents, being in a non — traditional family structure is not necessarily a disadvantage to adolescents in terms of their moral development.