Abstract

The aim of this study is to compare students' moral development stages across different subsamples of educational levels, regions and sexes using the Res's (1979) Defining Issues Test (DIT), and to assess possible differences in the developmental trends of Korean and. American student groups. A total of 480 subjects from Seoul and Hwachon area, composed of 30 male and female sixth, eighth and eleventh graders as well as collegians, was employed in the present study. Rest's (1976) results were used as the American data for the comparison purposes. The regional and educational effects in accordance with the hypotheses were reflected on the P scores which measure an important aspect of principled morality. However the effect of sex differences was significantly in favor of females, which was in contradiction to the hypothesis. The second third and fourth stage scores which were at relatively low reliability levels showed inconsistent differences among educational levels, regions, and sexes. It was revealed that the developmental patterns of Korean and American students with respect to the P scores and the rates of exceptionally preferred stages are quite different: the Korean groups show a gradually increasing trend according to educational levels, whereas the American counterparts show abrupt increases from the college level. Tho Kohlbergian moral judgment stages in a broad sense were confirmed by the present investigation of Korean samples. It is interpreted that the differences in P scores, some of the stage scores, and the preferred stage rates bet ween the rural and urban Korean student groups, and between. Korean and American groups are reflections of different socio-cultural backgrounds. Results of this study indicate that the future DIT research in. the field of sex differences shoud pay due attention to all of the possible effects of relevant factors such as IQ, SES., age. region, education, religion, etc.