The majority rule is a core decision-making principle in groups and democracies, where the preference of over half the members determines the collective outcome. This study investigated whether children aged 3-5 (N = 156, approximately 50% girls and boys, from predominantly White families) apply the majority rule in a group of peers with differing…

This research presented 8-, 10-, and 12-year-olds (N = 120) with hypothetical situations depicting comparably aged children engaging in defiance and deception to circumvent authorities' directives that they disagreed with. The nature of the situations varied in terms of domain (personal, moral, or prudential) and type of authority figure (parent…

Adolescents differ in the extent to which they believe that parents have legitimate authority to impose rules restricting adolescents' behavior. The purpose of the current study was to test predictors of individual differences in legitimacy beliefs during the middle school years. Annually, during the summers following Grades 5, 6, and 7, early…

Examined elementary students' evaluations of decision-making procedures in different social contexts. Found that consensus was preferred in peer and family contexts and authority-based procedures were preferred for school curricular decisions. Older children were more likely than younger to consider how children's limited knowledge and competence…

To explore the relationship between youth and adult leadership--or the relationship between the youth leadership literature and the adult leadership literature--it is important to examine where and how youth appear in the discussions on leadership. Based on a comparison of the literature focused on adult leadership development compared to the…