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The relationship between emotions, moral reasoning and rule violations in early adolescence
Abstract
Aggression and antisocial behavior in adolescents has become an increasingly important topic of research as the incidence of violent crimes committed by teenagers has escalated. Effective prevention of adolescent antisocial behavior requires an accurate understanding of the factors that make this age group prone to violations of social rules. This study attempts to answer some of the questions about why individuals engage in antisocial behaviors by examining a variety of research areas, including moral reasoning, emotion theory, and adolescent development. This study examines the degree to which emotions, emotional regulation, and moral reasoning are related to disruptive behavior and rule violations among early adolescent students. Participants included 350 public school children ranging from 12-15 years in age. Participants were administered the CDI, RCMAS, and STAXI and a measure of prosocial moral reasoning (PROM). School behavior records were reviewed and coded into three categories encompassing oppositional behavior, verbal aggression, and physical aggression. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine (a) the relationship between measures of anger, depression, and anxiety and disruptive behavior, (b) the relationship between emotional measures and moral reasoning measures, and (c) the relative contribution of anger, depression and anxiety in rule violations. Results indicate that measures of emotionality are significantly related to school rule violations, with measures of depression more predictive of physical aggression than measures of anger. These results are discussed with some attention to the relationship between depression and anger in adolescents, and clinical implications for assessment, treatment and clinical intervention regarding disruptive behavior and emotional regulation.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy|Developmental psychology|Secondary education
Recommended Citation
Raney, Thomas Jefferson, "The relationship between emotions, moral reasoning and rule violations in early adolescence" (1998). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9908482.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9908482