Effectiveness of Moral Developmental Interventions for Youth Engaged in Delinquent Behavior: A Meta-Analysis
There is vast empirical evidence showing that juvenile delinquency is associated with delays in moral development, including moral judgment, empathy, and self-conscious emotions (guilt and shame). Consequently, interventions have been developed that target moral development of juvenile delinquents t...
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| Otros Autores: | ; ; ; ; |
| Tipo de documento: | Electrónico Artículo |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| En: |
International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology
Año: 2025, Volumen: 69, Número: 5, Páginas: 537-558 |
| Acceso en línea: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) |
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| Verificar disponibilidad: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Sumario: | There is vast empirical evidence showing that juvenile delinquency is associated with delays in moral development, including moral judgment, empathy, and self-conscious emotions (guilt and shame). Consequently, interventions have been developed that target moral development of juvenile delinquents to reduce criminal offense recidivism. However, a comprehensive synthesis of studies examining the effectiveness of these interventions was not yet available. The present meta-analysis of (quasi-)experimental research therefore examined the effects of interventions that target moral development of youth engaged in delinquent behavior. Interventions that targeted moral judgment (11 studies and 17 effect sizes) showed a significant and small-to-medium effect on moral judgment (d = 0.39), with intervention type as a significant moderator, but no significant effect on recidivism (d = 0.03; 11 studies and 40 effect sizes). No (quasi-)experimental studies were found that targeted guilt and shame in juvenile offenders, and an insufficient number of studies (i.e., only two) were found to conduct a meta-analysis of interventions that target empathy. The discussion focuses on potential ways to improve moral development interventions for youth engaged in delinquent behavior, and provides suggestions for future research. |
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| ISSN: | 1552-6933 |
| DOI: | 10.1177/0306624X231172648 |