Fostering Goodness: Teaching
Parents to Facilitate Children’s Moral Development
By Marvin W.
Berkowitz and John H. Grych
Journal of Moral Education,
Vol. 27, No. 3, 1998
© 1998 The Norham Foundation
Download the article
Although moral development of
children has long been ascribed predominantly to the effects of
parenting, there has been little systematic examination of the
specific nature of this relation. In this paper, we identify
four foundational components of children’s moral development
(social orientation, self-control, compliance, self-esteem) and
four central aspects of moral functioning (empathy, conscience,
moral reasoning, altruism). The parenting roots of each of
these eight psychological characteristics are examined, and five
core parenting processes (induction, nurturance, demandingness,
modelling, democratic family process) that are related
empirically to the development of these eight child
characteristics are identified and discussed. Finally, we
consider the implications of our analysis for teaching parents
to influence positively their children’s moral development.