Adolescents' Moral Reasoning & Attribution about Peer Violence

청소년의 또래폭력 귀인양식과 도덕적 판단에 대한 삽화연구

To identify adolescents' moral reasoning and attribution about peer violence, vignette study was conducted. 178 subjects selected from 4 inner city schools were asked to evaluate provoked violent situations. 4 situations depicting the provocation/retribution condition and 3 short vignettes depicting peer violence were presented, and adolescents were asked to judge the violent behavior and the morality of story characters. Analyses revealed that many adolescents focused more on the immorality of the provocation and perceived "hitting back" as a form of reciprocal justice. And a number of adolescents attributed the responsibility to the both of prosecutors and victims with situations which have obscure informations to judge the violent behaviors. In addition, adolescents having more violent characteristics were more likely to attribute the responsibility of violence to the victims than non-violent adolescents. Several suggestions based on these results are as follows: First, school or class-based conflict resolution program should be implemented to intervene in a dispute between peers. Second, it is necessary for comprehensive program such as Aggression Replacement Training including moral education as well as behavior modification to resolve peer violence.