Political violence and moral maturity in Northern Ireland

The Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (SRM-SF; Gibbs, Basinger & Fuller, 1992) was presented to 421 Northern Irish children and adolescents. The sample consisted of participants from both of the religious communities, from either two areas of high political violence or two areas with low levels of political conflict. Analysis of the results indicated that children in the areas with high levels of political conflict scored at a lower level on the measure of moral development. The prevailing ''moral atmosphere'' in Ulster and the spatial nature of the conflict were suggested as causes for this result.