The relationship between attachment quality, empathy skills, and moral judgement in adolescents

Abstract

Moral judgement (making moral evaluation) refers to the way in which we judge an action to be good or bad, and thus constitutes an important factor in determining social behaviour. The outcome of moral judgement is influenced by thinking processes, personality structure, and environmental conditions. The study aims to assess the relationship between attachment quality and moral evaluation abilities in adolescents, examine potential gender differences, and explore the possibility that empathy skills mediate this relationship. The data was collected from 230 adolescents in Israel who completed self-report questionnaires. Results indicate a significant positive correlation between empathy and moral evaluation, with female adolescents exhibiting higher levels of both variables in comparison to their male peers. A correlation between attachment quality and levels of empathy was found only for cognitive empathy, but not for emotional empathy. These findings are essential for school counsellors as they stress the importance of designing interventions with adolescents in order to prevent high-risk behaviours.