Moral development of adolescents: What, how, and why?

By Melissa Brewi
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March, 2011

To me, I believe that moral behavior is treating others how you would expect to be treated; with respect, care, loyalty, honesty and trust. To be morally correct we must live up to all of these standards, in order to make the world a better place and create a happier, more friendly environment for all to appreciate. To be moral is to not only be true to others, but to be true to yourself. One must be true to oneself before even considering being moral, this is the most important aspect of morality because if you can not remain true to yourself it is impossible for you to practice these things with others. I consider myself to be a moral person, I am respectful of others, loyal to my friends and family, I try to always be honest and if I find myself lying about something I can't help but to admit that I am lying and to admit to the truth. I trust very easily, maybe too easily, but that is only because I am very trustworthy myself so I expect others to be in return although that may not always be the case.

Today's adolescent behavior seems to be shifting downward in terms of morality, it seems as if morals and values are being thrown out the window now a days and it is sad to watch. People are starting to curse at a younger age, adolescents seem to be dividing into cliques more and more often and discriminating against those who do not conform to the social "norms" which they develop in their cliques. Adolescents seem to becoming meaner and meaner to each other as they age, and finding more humor in it than ever before and I believe that this is due to the lack of importance in morality. I believe that the media has something to do with this decline in morality because of the relationships that are depicted for entertainment. For example the movie "Mean Girls," kids are watching this movie and getting the idea that in order to be cool they must conform to the societal norms and if they do not then they are bound to be ridiculed, and if they do conform to these norms than they should be ridiculing those who are not.