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AbstractIn a social world, occasionally we all will harm others, as well as be harmed. Previous research has focused largely on how perpetration and victimization events are distinct rather than on how they might be integrated with one another, jointly shaping moral agency. We report on an exploratory qualitative analysis of narratives about perpetration and victimization. Our sample included 30 participants divided evenly by gender and age (ages 11–12, 16–17, and 19–26). Our aims were: (a) to identify potential forms of integration in moral agency across perpetration and victimization; (b) to explore developmental paths in integration; and (c) to examine forms of integration that were not tied directly to the construction of moral agency. We found three frequent integration patterns: harm was similarly understandable in perpetrator and victim narratives; harm was similarly incomprehensible in perpetrator and victim narratives; and harm was understandable in perpetration narratives but incomprehensible in victim narratives. Other forms of integration suggestive of how diminished moral agency can be reclaimed via narrative also were identified.

This paper poses the following question: When, in spite of knowing that it is wrong, people go on to hurt others, what does this mean for the development of moral agency? We begin by defining moral agency and briefly sketching relations between moral agency and other concepts. We then outline what three extant literatures suggest about this question: social domain theory, moral intuitionist theories, and theories of moral identity development. Building on these literatures, but moving beyond them, we propose that experiences of harming others are catalysts for the development of what we term moral agency. In the remainder of the paper, we outline a model for how moral agency develops that draws on research about the narrative development of self. We close by outlining some of the critical directions for future work that are suggested by our approach.

Across time and cultures, wisdom has been nominated as the ideal endpoint of development. Evidence suggests that the beginnings of wisdom are observed in adolescence. But are the correlates of wisdom‐related performance in adolescence different from those in adulthood because of differences in developmental status? To answer this question, heterogeneous samples of German adolescents (N=148, 14–20 years) and adults (N=143, 35–75 years) responded verbally to 2 wisdom‐related tasks and completed a psychometric battery involving measures of intelligence, personality, and the personality–intelligence interface. As predicted, in the adolescent sample intelligence and personality emerged as the strongest unique predictors of wisdom‐related performance. In contrast, in the adult sample the interface measures were the strongest unique predictors. Implications for the facilitation of positive development in adolescence are discussed.

AbstractThis study examined children's and adolescents' descriptions of wanting and seeking revenge in peer conflicts. A total of 100 youth divided into three age groups (7‐, 11‐, and 16‐year‐olds) were interviewed about experiences in which they wanted to get back at a peer who harmed them. Most youth recalled experiencing retaliatory desires, but typically indicated that such desires were not acted out; 7‐year olds were less likely than older youth to describe carrying out their retaliatory desires. Youths' reasons for seeking revenge versus containing their retaliatory desires revealed age effects in their thinking about their own retaliation. Younger children's reasoning focused on the undesirability of harming others and potential punishments that could ensue, but they generally did not coordinate these concerns with the fact that they themselves had just been harmed. In contrast, older youth described their own retaliatory actions as driven by goals stemming from being deeply hurt, but such goals were balanced against their self‐protective motives, sensitivity to the particularities of transgressions, and self‐reflective moral commitments. Findings underscore that desires for revenge can be considered to be a part of children's experiences of conflict, but also crucially, that youth recognize their own capacities to contain and redirect these desires.

AbstractWe examined patterns of psychophysiological arousal related to remembering and narrating distressing events, as compared to arousal while engaged in positive and neutral recall tasks. Narrating distressing events entailed increased arousal relative to remembering those events. Analyses of combined data showed that aggregate arousal during narration was related to post-narration reports of distress and self-perceptions. These results support conceptions of narration as an effortful form of regulation, and suggest insights about the process through which narrative construction may promote psychological and physiological benefits.

AbstractThis study examined children's and adolescents' narrative accounts and evaluations of an instance when they forgave a peer and an instance when they did not forgive, as well as their definitions of what it means to forgive. The sample included 100 participants in three age groups (7‐, 11‐, and 16‐year olds). Regardless of age, forgiveness and non‐forgiveness accounts differed in interpersonal features, such as how they responded when hurt and whether the peer apologized. The psychological features of the experiences involving their own thoughts and feelings also distinguished between events that were forgiven and those that were not, but did so for 16‐year olds and, sometimes, for 11‐year olds, but never for 7‐year olds. The distinct ways in which younger and older children narrated their experiences also were reflected in their evolving definitions of what it means to forgive, though children's definitions revealed aspects of their thinking not captured in their narratives. Finally, children at all ages judged forgiving favorably but, with age, their evaluations of not forgiving became less negative. These findings challenge the narrow conceptual and methodological lenses through which forgiveness had been examined, and underscore meaningful age differences in the ways children make sense of and evaluate forgiveness and non‐forgiveness.

AbstractAs they respond to children's emotions, mothers socialize children's emerging emotion regulation. Mothers' own autobiographical narratives likely reflect in part habitual ways of expressing and managing emotions—ways that may in turn influence the way mothers respond to their children's emotions. We examined features of mothers' narratives about parental pride and regret experiences, and assessed whether these were associated with parental socialization of emotion and the emotion regulation repertoire of their children. Two hundred thirty‐seven mothers with children ranging from 8 to 17 years of age provided two narratives about parental pride and parental regret experiences. Parental emotion socialization and children's emotion regulation were assessed via self‐ and informant‐report using a multi‐measure, multi‐observer approach. We found that features of the way mothers narrated their experiences with a particular child related to their parenting of that child, and that child's emotion regulation. The findings are discussed in terms of their implications for emotion‐related parenting, and the potential importance of parent narratives.

AbstractThis study investigated the moral socialization strategies that mothers use in conversations about their children's experiences of harming their siblings as compared with their friends. The sample included 101 mothers and their 7‐, 11‐, or 16‐year‐old children; each dyad discussed events when the child (a) harmed a younger sibling and (b) harmed a friend (order counterbalanced). Analyses indicated that when children harmed their siblings, mothers were more likely to emphasize their children's wrongdoings, the effects of harm, insights about the self and de‐escalatory strategies. In contrast, when children harmed their friends, mothers mitigated their responsibility for harm, focused on consequences for the relationship, and discussed reparative strategies. These patterns were not typically moderated by age; that is, distinctions in socialization strategies across relationships were largely maintained across middle childhood and adolescence. Findings provide empirical support for recent theorizing that parents respond flexibly to children's varied experiences of harm, and suggest that moral socialization practices take into account the unique features of children's relationships with different types of age‐mates (e.g., the relatively uninhibited quality of sibling harm and the voluntary nature of children's friendships).

First-year college students in the 2019-2020 academic year are at risk of having their mental health, identity work, and college careers derailed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. To assess emerging and evolving impacts of the pandemic on mental health/well-being, identity development, and academic resilience, we collected data from a racially, ethnically, geographically, and economically diverse group of 629 students at four universities across the US within weeks of lockdown, and then followed up on these students' self-reported mental health, identity, and academic resilience three times over the following year. Our findings suggest that: 1) students' mental health, identity development, and academic resilience were largely negatively impacted compared to pre-pandemic samples; 2) these alterations persisted and, in some cases, worsened as the pandemic wore on; and 3) patterns of change were often worse for students indicating more baseline COVID-related stressors.