Morality and personal continuity in childhood: Further evidence supporting the early-onset view of moral identity...

The study extends previous research on older children, adolescents, and adults by investigating at what age morality becomes important for judgments of identity continuity in younger children. Participants (N = 115) from two age groups-4 to 5 years and 7 to 8 years-were presented with scenarios involving changes in behaviour across moral, conventional, and personal domains, with variations in the direction of change (positive versus negative). Results revealed that 7- to 8-year-olds differentiated between the moral and personal domains, as well as between the conventional and personal domains in their judgments of identity continuity, while 4- to 5-year-olds did not, suggesting that morality becomes important for establishing identity continuity in middle childhood. The findings support an early onset view of moral identity development, according to which moral identity emerges between the ages of 5 and 7 years.