Moral dilemma in adolescence: The role of values, prosocial moral reasoning and moral disengagement in helping decision making

Marinella Paciello1, Roberta Fida2, Carlo Tramontano3, Ellie Cole3, and Luca Cerniglia1 1Faculty of Psychology, Uninettuno Telematic International University, Rome, Italy 2Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy 3Department of Epidemiology & Public Health, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Inclusive Development Centre, UCL, London, UK

Over the last few decades, extensive information has been collected on moral functioning in adolescence. Different studies have examined adolescent moral development, focusing on the relationship betweenmoral thinking, social behaviour

and the social context (Killen & Hart, 1995). Public opinion tends to consider adolescents asmorally deficient and unable to learn moral values (Duffett, Johnson, & Farkas, 1999; Hart, & Carlo, 2005). This negative representation is reinforced by the escalation of rule-breaking behaviours that are generally observed during adolescence (Bongers, Koot, van der Ende, & Verhulst, 2004).