A Comparison Study Between Developmental Level Of Moral Cognition And Forgiveness In Preteens And Teenagers

In a time when quality education is emphasized, nurturing and teaching the morals among students should not be neglected. Nowadays, most K-12 students are a single child in the family. They are used to being self-centered. After entering school, they face social interactions. In the process of interacting socially, conflict and contradiction are unavoidable. Therefore, development of forgiveness has become an important moral characteristic. This research uses interviews type of diagnostic analysis, being attentive to promote moral-cognitive and forgiveness development among preteens and teenagers. This research is based on Kohlberg's Moral Development Theory and Enright's Forgiveness Stages Theory as tools to explore the moral-cognitive and forgiveness development among the current generation of teens in our nation, and also methods and ways to impart moral education among them.The research made the following conclusions:1. The level of moral cognition among preteens and teenagers matches the 'Stages Model' of Kohlberg's moral cognition development. This means as age increases, the difference among grades becomes more significant. There are also characteristics of Stage 4 and Stage 5 being tested. Because of the influencing factors like education and home environment, some preteens and teenagers were either below or above the corresponding stage in Kohlberg's 'Stages Model'. Elementary grade four is an essential time for moral cognitive development.2. The forgiveness stages among preteens and teenagers matches the first three stages of Enright's 'Six-stage Model'. These forgiveness stages are 'Revenge Forgiveness', 'Return or Compensate Forgiveness' and 'Expectation Forgiveness'. There is a significant difference among the grades. Even a portion of students had been tested to show the characteristic of the forth level, 'Social Harmony Forgiveness'. Elementary fourth grade and middle school sophomore year is the essential time for forgiveness development.3. The moral understanding and the forgiveness development among the preteens and teenagers have higher uniformity meaning when a person's level of moral cognition is higher; his or her level of forgiveness is higher as well. There are level differences between males and females but the differences are not significant.