The moral judgement of the child between the ages of 7 to 11 of Maltese primary school children

Abstract

A sample (N~200) of Maltese children aged 7 to 11 - attending Government Primary Schools were asked to judge moral behaviour shown in two pairs of contrasting stories balancing intention with consequences (cf. Piaget 1932). The level of moral judgement shown by the children was found to correlate highly with age but less consistently with I.Q. as obtained on the Draw-a-man test. Girls tended to give more mature responses than boys at each age level. Implications for moral education are also discussed.