Moral Identity As The Basis For Volunteering Involvement In Adolescence

Abstract

Russian teenagers develop in complicated, uncertain and contradicting social and economic conditions. The moral development as one of the central lines of psychological changes in adolescence becomes complicated in world of inconsistent and conflict social and moral norms in modern society. Volunteering activity can be regarded as one of the opportunities to stimulate adolescents’ moral development in a positive way. Volunteering activity correlates with moral norms and care orientation. The goal of the study was to investigate the role of moral identity in volunteering involvement in adolescence. 329 adolescents took part in the investigation. 4 questionnaires were used. Several groups with different levels of moral development were defined; the differences of volunteering experience and understanding of volunteering motivation were found and discussed. The results showed that a higher level of moral development correlates with experience of volunteering activity and understanding of volunteering motivation. Regression models for volunteering motivation functions (belief function and social function) allowed one to define moral predictors of motivation.

Keywords: Moral development, moral disengagement mechanisms, volunteering, adolescence

Introduction

Developmental tasks define the main directions of self-determination in adolescence. The self-determination as the process provides various opportunities to social experiments for self-understanding. The self-determination as the result gives teenagers stable and concrete choices in in basic life spheres. Socialization conditions for adolescents’ self-determination in modern Russia are rather contradictory: high level of social uncertainty, wide variety of moral norms and life values, huge informational flow – wide life opportunities are supported by inconsistent and conflict social landmarks (Karabanova, 2007; Martsinkovskaya, 2012). Social structures not always set life and social guides for teenagers. That increases the risks for development of egoistic and material value orientation. Adolescence is the period of value and moral structure development. Moral development can be defined as one of the main directions of development in adolescence: principled moral judgments and prosocial commitments are emerging (Colby & Kolhberg, 1987; Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990), care orientation in interpersonal relations appears (Gilligan, 1993). Different social contexts influence the speed and content of moral development in adolescence (Molchanov, 2007). Contextual variability and heterogeneity in adolescents’ moral thinking are defined (Smetana & Turiel, 2003). Adolescents are more sensitive than children to the expectations, attitudes, and needs of others (Carlo, 2006). The life experience of moral conflicts in interpersonal relations and cognitive and intellectual development in adolescence provides the necessary content for reflection, analyses and moral norms conclusion. The moral structure becomes more stable. Prosocial moral reasoning and empathy in adolescence become signs of pro-social disposition in adulthood (Eisenberg et al., 2002).

One of the important constructions of moral development in adolescence is moral identity. Moral identity can be defined as the mental representation of one’s moral character held internally as a cognitive schema, and expressed to others externally through one’s actions (Aquino & Reed, 2002; Blasi, 1984; Reed et al., 2007). Moral identity formation is associated with certain individual characteristics, developmental contexts, and opportunities for moral action (Hart, 2005). Moral identity can be an important source of moral motivation (Hardy & Carlo, 2011a). Many investigations show that moral identity can be regarded as a predictor of involvement in different forms of prosocial behaviour (Hart et al., 1998; Shao et al., 2008). Moral identity correlates with moral actions, e.g., donating money to charities and altruistic helping, moral emotions and concern for out-group members (Aquino & Reed, 2002; Hardy & Carlo, 2011b). The becoming of moral identity can be regarded as the part of ego-identity development that influences moral actions (van Goethem et al., 2012). Moral identity can be regarded as the central construction of moral development. Strong feeling of moral identity will be more likely to do what they know is right, and more likely to show enduring moral commitments (Hardy & Carlo, 2011a). On the other hand of moral development, there are numerous situations of moral norms violation by adolescents. The process of self-determination in moral sphere often includes different experience where the situation of moral norms violations becomes the part of moral content for self-reflection. These situations need to defend own self-esteem in the case of immoral behaviour. Moral disengagement mechanisms can be used to justify own behaviour. A. Bandura proposed a model of mechanisms of moral disengagement, which ensure the adoption of one's own behaviour without actualizing experiences and reflections that can change self-esteem and self-image Bandura (2002). Mechanisms of moral disengagement are associated with three self-regulation processes: perception of the situation of moral choice, assessment of the consequences of the act for the participants in the situation, assessment of the figure of the victim and attitudes towards it. The following mechanisms of moral disengagement are moral justification, speech euphemism, justifiable comparison, distribution of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, distortion of consequences, dehumanization of the victim, attribution of guilt. Further studies of the mechanisms of moral self- justification showed that they are actively used in conditions of deviant and delicacy behaviour (Bandura et al., 1996). Adolescence is the period of active use of moral disengagement mechanisms.

The role of prosocial activity commitment for moral development is very high. Society can present the desirable values and moral norm through specific forms of helping behavior. Involving youth in prosocial activities is regarded as one of the perspective forms of positive youth development including moral issues (Berkowitz, 2012). Community service and volunteering are considered to be activities that can stimulate moral development. Despite the differences for motivation the development of prosocial behavior is predicted for participants of community service and volunteering activity (Boss, 1994; Hart et al., 2006; Nucci, 2006). The production of opening volunteering opportunities for youth becomes the form of society influence on positive youth development.

Problem Statement

In Russia the popularity of volunteering activity increases. That activity becomes more organized, varied and available: numerous non-profit prosocial organizations appear and develop; the Federal Law about the volunteering activity was in 2018; youth auditorium becomes more involved in volunteering forms of helping behaviour. The volunteering activity is realized on free basis without material encouragement and the question of internal motivation becomes very important. Sometimes the volunteering activity cam important not only for people who need help but for volunteers themselves. The volunteering activity can be understand by the participant as realization of culture of dignity with deep means and internal feeling of virtue for the care. Motivation of volunteering can be very different and included various reasons. Obviously, the priority attitudes to activity influence on the quality and evaluation of helping behaviour as socially significant and individually importance. There are different models of motivation for volunteering activity. The functional motivation model in research of volunteering activity defines six motivational functions: belief function, source of competencies function, social function, resource for career possibility’s function, defensive compensation function, source for development function (Clary et al., 1998; Clary & Snyder, 1999). The depicted motives allow one to define different versions of helping behaviour in volunteering: from egoistic and pragmatic meaning to social and caring senses. The volunteering motivation correlates with moral issues. The moral identity and level of moral development can be the predictors of volunteering involvement on the one hand. On the other hand, the volunteering activity can produce the importance of moral ideal and moral development.

Research Questions

The research questions are the following:

3.1. Do adolescents with different experience of participation in volunteering activity demonstrate different levels of moral development?

3.2. Do the different levels of moral development define different volunteering motivation in adolescence?

3.3. Do the parameters of moral development predict the importance of some types of volunteering motivation?

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to investigate the role of moral identity in volunteering involvement in adolescence. The diversity in moral development can correlate with volunteering involvement and motivation for helping behaviour. The hypothesis of the study was that moral identity influences volunteering involvement and motivation.

Research Methods

Four questionnaires were used in our study. C. Moore’s method of moral disengagement highlights the preferred mechanisms of moral disengagement in adopted Russian version (Moore, 2015). The scales include the following moral disengagement mechanisms: moral justification, speech euphemism, justifiable comparison, distribution of responsibility, diffusion of responsibility, distortion of consequences, dehumanization of the victim, and attribution of guilt.

The MORS questionnaire (moral situation from real life) defines the readiness to take responsibility in the situation of moral dilemma. Subjects filled 8 situations where different moral norms were violated. Three parameters are analysed – behaviour esteem, responsibility, consequences (punishment and reward).

The moral identity questionnaire defines the stability of moral issues (Black & Reynolds, 2016). It contains two scales: moral integrity and moral self. The analysis of internal validity of Russian version showed satisfying results: the Alpha-Cronbach coefficient varies from 0.75 to 0.80 that is higher than the required threshold 0.75.

The questionnaire “The Volunteer Functions Inventory” proposed by Clary and colleagues based on functional motivation theory was used in Russian version for investigation. It is aimed to study the reasons for participation in volunteering activity The questionnaire contains the following motivational functions: defensive compensation function, belief function, resource for career possibility’s function, social function, source of competencies function, source for development function (Chacon et al., 2017). The previous analysis of internal validity of Russian version of VFI showed satisfying results: the Alpha-Cronbach coefficient varies from 0.78 to 0.88 that is higher than the required threshold 0.75 (Molchanov et al., 2020).

The data consists of 329 adolescents aged from 14 - 18 years old with 57.4% men and 42.6% women, 43.8% of subjects had the experience of volunteering activity and 56.2% did not. The data was collected in the Internet survey form.

Findings

All scales of all questionnaires have a normal distribution (Criteria Kolomogorov-Smirnov) that allows using parametric methods of analysis.

Firstly, we estimated the medium meanings for all moral parameters and motivation types for subjects with and without experience of volunteering activity. We also compared groups with and without volunteering experience (one-factor dispersion analysis ANOVA). The results are presented in Table 1.

Significant differences were shows for all scales of all questionnaires except for two moral disengagement mechanisms (speech euphemism and distribution of responsibility) and MORS scale punishment/reward. Moral identity components – self and integrity – are higher for adolescents with volunteering experience. The quality of behavior esteem and responsibility level is also higher for adolescents with volunteering experience. The intensity of use of most moral disengagement mechanisms is higher for adolescents with no volunteering experience. We can define that the adolescents with volunteering experience show a higher level of moral development according to different parameters.

We decided to define groups of adolescents with different levels of moral development. Using the cluster analysis (via the K-means method) and based on the results of questionnaires: moral disengagement mechanisms, moral identity and MORS, all subjects were divided into 3 groups (clusters). The cluster centers are given in Table 2.

According to the one-factor dispersion analysis ANOVA we found out that all esteems of moral development in different clusters are significantly different. That allows one to define clusters as different groups-levels. We defined groups with a low level of moral development (26,7% of subjects), a medium level (51,1% of respondents) and a high level (22.2% of subjects).

We studied the distribution of adolescents with and without experience in volunteering activity according to different levels of moral development. Using the χ² criterion, it was established that there is connection between the experience in volunteering and adolescents falling into a certain type (χ² = 9.372 with p = 0.009, Cramer’s V=0.169). Table 3 presents the distribution of subjects with and without the experience of volunteering according to different levels of moral development.

The results shows that a lower level of moral development is more typical of adolescents with no experience of volunteering activity (33% to 18.8%) and a high level of moral development is more spread for adolescents with volunteering experience (27.1% to 18,4%). The obtained results confirm the idea that the experience in volunteering activity correlates with the level of moral development.

We used the VFI questionnaire to analyse the correlation between motivation for volunteering activity and the level of moral development in adolescence. We were focused on differences of motivation for volunteering activity for adolescents with different levels of moral development. According to the one-factor dispersion analysis ANOVA we estimated the significant differences in different scales of the VFI questionnaire for groups with different levels of moral development. Scheffe Test allowed us to define significant differences between the concrete groups. The results are present in Table 4.

Significant differences in motivation for volunteering activity in groups with different levels of moral development were found for all scales, except “Resource for career possibility”. For all scales there are significant differences for different volunteering motivations in comparison of all levels of moral development: low and medium, low and high, medium and high except motivation as a source for development. For all motivation types the higher level of moral development correlates with higher sense of motivation.

One of the goals of the study was to define predictors of concrete motivation to volunteering activity. We realized regression analysis to all scales of VFI where the predictor candidates were components of moral development. Two models satisfying statistical criteria (R>0,5) were defined: for the scale «Belief function» and “Social function”. The results for the regression model with Dependent Variable «Belief» are presented in Table 5 (R=0,646 (>0,5), F=17,679, p<0,001).

The results show that predictors for the higher mean of Belief function in volunteering are «Moral justification », «Speech Euphemism», «Distribution of responsibility» and both scales of moral identity - «Moral Self» and «Moral Integrity».

The results for the regression model with Dependent Variable «Social function» are presented in Table 6 (R=0.521 (>0.5), F=9,021, p<0.001)

The results shows that predictors for the higher mean of Social function in volunteering are “Distribution of responsibility” and both scales of moral identity - «Moral Self» and «Moral Integrity».

Conclusion

The goal of the study was to investigate the role of moral identity in volunteering involvement in adolescence. We defined the peculiarities of moral development from different sides: moral identity as the moral stability and fidelity, moral situations as the practical form and mechanisms of moral disengagement as the situations of moral norm violation. That helped us to define different levels of moral development in adolescence. According to previous study in other countries we confirmed that the higher level of moral development correlates with volunteering experience. The moral development also influences understanding and preference of volunteering motivation in adolescence. The development of moral identity defines the importance of such volunteering motivation as belief and social function. Both these forms of motivation are focused on external reasons for helping behavior. The realized study showed the high importance of moral development and moral identity for volunteering involvement of modern Russian adolescents.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research under project 20-013- 00439 “Moral identity as the factor of participation in volunteer activity by youth – social networks users at the entry adulthood period”.

References

• Aquino, K., & Reed II, A. (2002). The self-importance of moral identity. Journal of personality and social psychology, 83(6), 1423. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Bandura, A. (2002). Selective moral disengagement in the exercise of moral agency. Journal of Moral Education, 31, 101-119.

• Bandura, A., Barbaranelli, C., Caprara, G., & Pastorelli, C. (1996). Mechanisms of moral disengagement in the excercise of moral agency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 364-374.

• Berkowitz, M. W. (2012). Moral and character education. In K.R. Harris, S. Graham, T. Urdan, J.M. Royer & M. Zeidner (Eds.) APA educational psychology handbook, Vol.2. Individual differences and cultural and contextual factors (pp. 247-264).

• Black, J. E., & Reynolds, W. M. (2016). Development, reliability, and validity of the Moral Identity Questionnaire. Personality and Individual Differences, 97, 120-129.

• Blasi, A. (1984). Moral identity: Its role in moral functioning. Morality, moral behavior, and moral development, 128, 39.

• Boss, J. A. (1994). The effect of community service work on the moral development of college ethics students. Journal of Moral Education, 23(2), 183-198. http://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/slcehighered/87

• Carlo, G. (2006). Care-based and altruistically-based morality. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 551–580). Erlbaum.

• Chacón, F., Gutiérrez, G., Sauto, V., Vecina, M. L., & Pérez, A. (2017). Volunteer functions inventory: A systematic review. Psicothema, 29(3), 306-316.

• Clary, E. G., Snyder, M., Ridge, R. D., Copeland, J., Stukas, A. A., Haugen, J., & Miene, P. (1998). Understanding and assessing the motivations of volunteers: a functional approach. Journal of personality and social psychology, 74(6), 1516.

• Clary, E. G., & Snyder, M. (1999). The motivations to volunteer: Theoretical and practical considerations. Current directions in psychological science, 8(5), 156-159.

• Colby, A., & Kohlberg, L. (1987). The measurement of moral judgment: Theoretical foundations and research validation. Cambridge.

• Eisenberg, N., & Fabes, R. A. (1990). Empathy: conceptualization, measurement, and relation to prosocial behavior. Motivation and emotion, 14, 131-149.

• Eisenberg, N., Spinrad, T. L., & Morris, A. S. (2002). Regulation, resiliency and quality of social functioning. Self-Identity, 1, 21-28.

• Gilligan, C. (1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and women’s development. Harvard University Press.

• van Goethem, A. A., van Hoof, A., van Aken, M. A., Raaijmakers, Q. A., Boom, J., & de Castro, B. O. (2012). The role of adolescents’ morality and identity in volunteering. Age and gender differences in a process model. Journal of adolescence, 35(3), 509-520.

• Hardy, S. A., & Carlo, G. (2011a). Moral identity: What is it, how does it develop, and is it linked to moral action? Child development perspectives, 5(3), 212-218.

• Hardy, S. A., & Carlo, G. (2011b). Moral identity. In S. J. Schwartz, K. Luyckx, & V. L. Vignoles (Eds.), Handbook of identity theory and research (pp. 495–513). Springer Science + Business Media.

• Hart, D. (2005). The development of moral identity. In G. Carlo & C. P. Edwards (Eds.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: Moral development through the lifespan: Theory, research, and application (Vol. 51, pp. 165–196). University of Nebraska Press.

• Hart, D., Atkins, R., & Ford, D. (1998). Urban America as a context for the development of moral identity in adolescence. Journal of Social Issues, 54, 513-530.

• Hart, D., Atkins, R., & Donnelly, T. M. (2006). Community service and moral development. In M. Killen & J. G. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (p. 633–656). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

• Karabanova, O. A. (2007). Ponyatie «sotsial’naya situatsiya razvitiya» v sovremennoi psikhologii [Term “social situation of development” in modern psychology]. Metodologiya i istoriya psikhologii [Methodology and History of Psychology], 4, 40-56.

• Martsinkovskaya, T. D. (2012). Informatsionnaya sotsializatsiya v izmenyayushchemsya informatsionnom prostranstve [Information socialization in changing informational space]. Psikhologicheskie issledovaniya [Psychological investigations], 5(26), 7. http://psystudy.ru/num/2012v5n26/766- martsinkovskaya26.html

• Molchanov, S. V. (2007). Moral’no-tsennostnye orientatsii kak funktsiya sotsial’noi situatsii razvitiya [Moral-value orientation as the function of social situation of development]. Kul’turno- istoricheskaya psikhologiya [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 1, 73-79.

• Molchanov, S. V., Almazova, O. V., & Poskrebisheva, N. N. (2020). Predstavlenie o volonterskoj deatelnosti u sovremennoj molodegi. [Attitudes about volunteering activity in youth]. Natsional’nyi psikhologicheskii zhurnal [National Psychological Journal], 4, 125-136.

• Moore, C. (2015). Moral disengagement. Current Opinion in Psychology, 6, 199–204

• Nucci, L. (2006). Education for moral development. In M. Killen, & J. Smetana (Eds.), Handbook of moral development (pp. 657-681). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

• Reed, A. I., Aquino, K., & Levy, E. (2007). Moral identity and judgments of charitable behaviors. Journal of Marketing, 71, 178–193. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Shao, R., Aquino, K., & Freeman, D. (2008). Beyond moral reasoning: A review of moral identity research and its implications for business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly, 18, 513–540. DOI:

  Google Scholar

  Crossref

• Smetana, J. G., & Turiel, E. (2003). Moral development during adolescence, In G.R. Adams & M.D. Berzonsky (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of adolescence (pp. 247-268). Blackwell Publishing.