Moral Prioritization and Consistency in Adolescents’ Moral Decision-Making: The Role of Moral Identity Abstraction

Moral identity predicts moral decision-making and behavior. Moral identity goal theory claims that moral identity becomes more abstract with age. A concrete construal of moral identity refers to thinking of temporally more recent context specific moral actions, whereas an abstract construal of moral identity encompasses temporally more distant and generalized moral values. Construal level has been shown to be related to decision-making in a variety of areas (e.g. health) including the moral domain. In this study, we collected data from 246 early adolescents (M_age =13.32, 123 females) and 250 young adult university students (M_age =19.94, 181 females) about moral identity and decision-making in hypothetical scenarios. We found that moral identity was more abstract in the older age group. Moreover, moral identity abstraction predicted the prioritization of moral concerns over conflicting self-interest as well as greater consistency in moral decision-making across situations. The findings provide empirical support for moral identity abstraction as an important aspect of moral identity development.