The Effect of a Character Education Program on Moral Development and Self-Esteem of At-Risk Youth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52935/21.193152020.01Keywords:
Character education, at-risk youth, moral development, self-esteemAbstract
The purpose of this study was to examine the results of a psychological and educational intervention with at-risk youth that could benefit from a character education program. All sessions and material used focused on improving moral development and possibly self-esteem in each child. In summary, the findings did not support the use of the present character education intervention with the targeted population sample. The study did provide encouragement to continue to design and investigate programs that could possibly benefit at-risk youth. Ancillary data was also discussed concerning the issue of a false sense of high self-esteem in at-risk youth. Implications for counselors are also discussed.
References
Abraham, J. I. (1989). The effects of a social skill training group and a moral development discussion group on male juvenile offenders. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. Sciences and Engineering, 50, 3182.
Agresti, A., & Finlay, B. (1997). Statistical methods for the social sciences (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Arbuthnot, J., & Gordon, D. A. (1986). Behavioral and cognitive effects of a moral reasoning development intervention for high-risk behavior-disordered adolescents. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 208-216. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.54.2.208
Benninga, J. S. (1991). Moral, character, and civic education in the elementary school. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Belenky, M. F., Clinchy, B. M., Goldberger, N. R., & Tarule, J. M. (1997). Women’s ways of knowing: The development of self, voice, and mind. New York, NY: Basic Books, Inc.
Blascovich, J. & Tomaka, J. (1993). Measures of Self-Esteem. In J.P. Robinson, P.R. Shaver, and L.S. Wrightsman (Eds.), Measures of Personality and Social Psychological Attitudes (pp. 121-124). Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
Burke, J. D. (1997). The effects of a school-based sociomoral mentoring program on preadolescent’s cognitive, emotional, and behavioral development. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. Sciences and Engineering, 59(1-B), 0411.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2006). Surveillance Summaries, 55(SS-5). Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/PDF/SS/SS5505.pdf
Citron, G. A. (1989). Sociomoral judgment, self-esteem and their effects on moral behavior in residential juvenile delinquents. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. Sciences and Engineering, 50(9-B): 4213.
Ervin, L.H., & Stryker, S. (2001). Theorizing the relationship between self-esteem and identity. In T. L. Owens, S. Stryker, & N. Goodman (Eds.), Extending self-esteem theory and research (pp. 29-55). New York, NY: Press Syndicate.
Egley, A. & Howell (2011). Highlights of the 2011 National Youth Gang Survey. (OJJDP Fact Sheet NCJ 242884). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
Freeman, A. (1997). Character education, Teaching values for life. Grand Rapids, MI.: Instructional Fair.
Harter, S. (1983). Developmental perspectives on the self-systems. In P.H. Mussen (Ed.), Handbook of child psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 275-285). New York, NY: Wiley.
Heppner, P. P., Kivlighan, D. M., & Wampold, B. E. (1992). Research design in counseling. Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing.
Hockenberry, Sarah, and Puzzanchera, Charles. (2019). Juvenile Court Statistics 2017. Pittsburgh, PA: National Center for Juvenile Justice.
Jones, J. M. (2018). More parents, children fearful for safety at school. Gallup: Education. Retrieved from https://news.gallup.com/poll/241625/parents-children-fearful-safetyschool.aspx
Kaplan, H. B. (1975a). Self-attitudes and deviant behavior. Pacific Palisades, CA: Goodyear Publishing.
Kaplan, H. B. (1976). Self-attitudes and deviant response. Social Forces, 54, 788-801. Kaplan, H. B. (1980). Deviant behavior in the defense of self. New York: Academic Press.
Kohlberg, L. (1981). Essays on moral development (vol. I). New York: Harper & Row.
Kohlberg, L. (1984). The Psychology of Moral Development. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.
Kuhmerker, L., Gielen, U., & Hayes, R. L. (1991). The Kohlberg legacy. Birmingham, AL.: Doxa Books.
Lickona, T. (1991). Educating for Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility. New York: Bantam.
Mruk, C. J. (1999). Self-Esteem: Research, Theory, and Practice. New York: Springer. Murphy, M. (1998). Character Education in America’s Blue Ribbon Schools. Lancaster, PA: Technomic Publishing.
Niles, W.J. (1986). Effects of a moral development discussion group on delinquent and predelinquent boys. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 33, 45-51. doi:10.1037/ 0022-0167.33.1.45
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2007). 2004 case processing summary counts for delinquency offenses. National Disproportionate Minority Contact Databook. Retrieved from http://ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/ojstatbb/dmcdb/
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (2019). Juvenile arrests, 2017. National Juvenile Justice Data Analysis Project. Retrieved from http://www.ncjj.org/pdf/Juvenile%20Arrests%20Bulletins/252713.pdf
Reasoner, R. (2000). The true meaning of self-esteem. National Association for Self-Esteem. Retrieved from http://self-esteem-nase.org/what.php
Redding, R. E. (2000). Recidivism rates in juvenile versus criminal court. Juvenile Justice Fact Sheet. Charlottesville, VA: Institute of Law, Psychiatry, & Public Policy, University of Virginia.
Rest, J. R. (1986). Moral development: Advances in theory and research. New York: Praeger.
Rest, J. R. (1988). Test manual for the defining issues test (3rd ed.). University of Minneapolis, Center for the Study of Ethical Development.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rosenberg, M., & Owens, T. J. (2001). Low self-esteem people: A collective portrait. In T. L. Owens, S. Stryker, & N. Goodman (Eds.), Extending self-esteem theory and research (pp. 29-55). New York: Press Syndicate.
Rosenberg, F. R., and Rosenberg, M. (1978). Self-esteem and delinquency. Journal of youth and adolescence, 7, 279-291. doi:10.1007/BF01537978
Snyder, Howard N., and Sickmund, Melissa. 2006. Juvenile Offenders and Victims: 2006 National Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Stahl, A. L. (2006). Person offenses in juvenile court, 1985-2002. OJJDP Fact The Effect of a Character Education Sheet (FS-200603). Retrieved from http://www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles/91286.pdf
U. S, Department of Education (2019). Character education…Our shared responsibility. Retrieved from https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/character/brochure.html
Yanish, D., & Battle, J. (1985). Relationship between self-esteem, depression and alcohol consumption among adolescents. Psychological Reports, 57, 331-334.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
