What Are They Thinking? The Moral Judgment of Children With Emotional and Behavioral Disorders

Abstract

This study was conducted to describe the moral judgment of 12 third- through fifth-grade children with and without emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and to explore how feelings affected their thought processes. Data were gathered via three individually conducted moral dilemma interviews with each child participant. These procedures produced 2,107 moral judgments that were coded and submitted to an analysis using case study research methodology. The results showed that 10 of the children voiced an egocentric moral orientation and that only 2 voiced a developmentally typical cooperative moral orientation. The children also described how caring, just relationships engendered feelings of happiness and love and inspired a sense of moral autonomy while harsh, unjust relationships fueled feelings of anger, sadness, and fear and led to prescriptions of disobedience and retaliation. The implications of the results are discussed with respect to the importance of children’s experiences in inclusive classroom communities.