Dissocial behaviour and the formation of moral judgement in adolescence

The examination of moral judgement under the aspects of judgement competence and of judgement performance has achieved an important result in connection with an analysis of the biographical context of dissocial adolescents above all in the area of the décalage of the moral judgement. Whilst the global level demonstrates no relationship to dissocial behaviour, the connection between dissocial behaviour and décalage, the difference between global and the highest reached level, between global stage and competence stage is significant. The thus characterized imperilment of the coherence of the ego corresponds with the result found in psychotic adolescents of a distinct décalage as sign of a distinct disactualisations weakness (Reinhard 1990a) and presents proof of Rauchfleisch's (1981) thesis, which moves dissocial adolescents to the proximity of borderline disturbances and just as with psychoses diagnoses an imperilment of the ego coherence at the sight of massive splitting tendencies. The peculiarities of existential mastering found over and above--liability of mood and evasion--correspond with the results found previously in a larger random test of dissocial adolescents (Reinhard 1988b). Further connections between moral judgement and forms of existential mastering should be gone into elsewhere (Reinhard 1991).