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When Friends’ And Society’S Expectations Collide: A Longitudinal Study Of Moral Decision-Making And Personality Across College, Kathryn L. Bollich, Patrick L. Hill, Peter D. Harms, Joshua Jackson

P. D. Harms Publications

Early adulthood is a developmentally important time period, with many novel life events needing to be traversed for the first time. Despite this important transition period, few studies examine the development of moral decision-making processes during this critical life stage. In the present study, college students completed moral decision-making measures during their freshman and senior years of college. Results indicate that, across four years, moral decision-making demonstrates considerable rank-order stability as well as change, such that people become more likely to help a friend relative to following societal rules. To help understand the mechanisms driving changes in moral decision-making processes, …