In the current study, we sought to understand relations among the key intervention targets of social-emotional and character development (SECD) interventions: character virtues, Positive Purpose, and social-emotional learning (SEL). Sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students (n = 1011, ages 11 to 16, M = 12.94, SD = 1.00) from five urban middle…

Justice is at the center of many definitions of character across various lines of research, yet there is little empirical research on how the justice of contexts can foster character virtues. The current study draws from a sample of 1,865 Brazilian fourth and fifth graders across two time points in 60 schools (42.7% White; 48.3% male). A…

Character education programs in elementary schools are believed to be important for fostering moral development and preparing children to thrive in civil society. Character develops through social relationships across contexts. However, transgressions, such as school bullying, threaten the relationships that foster character development.…

This study examined differences in participants' perceptions of their Character Development, Leadership, and Environmental Service prior to and immediately following participation in a North Carolina Outward Bound School (NCOBS) course using the NCOBS Course Impression Survey (NCOBCIS). The three-fold purpose of this study was to confirm the…

According to Johnson (2001) and Rest (1979) a leader who has developed a high level of moral reasoning will tend to make decisions that are better from an ethical/moral perspective than a leader who has achieved a lower level of moral reasoning. The mission statement at this university states that graduates will be prepared through training in…

These essays provide richer set of writings on the philosophical, empirical and practical issues raised by a focus on character, and in particular its relationship to questions of opportunity. Each one is an intellectual pemmican: sharp and to the point. Two scholars draw attention to the gendered nature of character formation (Segal and Lexmond);…

Recent world events such as the threat of terrorism and the global economic crises have rekindled an interest in ethics and values education. This study, conducted in Singapore, combines a Kohlbergian approach to the assessment of moral judgement with a framework based on the self-determination theory to assess the motivational regulations of…

In the "Journal of Moral Education", Sherblom (2008) examined several empirical and conceptual claims related to gender and morality and re-envisioned the legacy of Gilligan's "care challenge". He concluded that the moral and scientific legitimacy of the ethic of care has been established. However, his apologetic is flawed in major ways and…

This study questions the widely held assumption, particularly in the United States, that coeducation is best. Previous research supports the development of single-sex education for both female and male students. This study examines how the learning climate of the coeducation environment seems to affect the character development of female business…

The purpose of this study was to examine the attitudes of elementary school physical education teachers towards teaching character education related to the variables respect, honesty, fairness and self-discipline and to examine their attitudes towards the character development of their fourth and/or fifth grade students related to the variables…

The "care challenge" to moral psychology, articulated in the justice-care debate, has been borne out in a number of ways. Empirically, claims regarding gender difference in use of justice and care reasoning, gender bias claims regarding early forms of Kohlberg's scoring manual and claims regarding the centrality of cultural conceptions of…

The authors assess the kinds of college experience that affect students' development of character. (Contains 2 tables.)

The psychological study of moral development has expanded greatly, both in terms of the diversity of theoretical perspectives that are represented in the field, as well as in the range of topics that have been studied. This "Handbook of Moral Development" represents the diversity and multidisciplinary influences on current theorizing about the…