Kohlberg's theory of moral development regards justice concerns as developmentally more advanced than interpersonal considerations. Men tend to score as more morally developed than women on existing measures. Gilligan suggested that this is because women rely more on "care" considerations in moral dilemmas, whereas men rely more on "justice" issues. Snarey noted similar bias in the cross-cultural realm. The authors studied moral judgment in Mexican American (n = 40) and Anglo-American (n = 40) college students. On the care measure, as expected, females scored higher than males (p < .05), and Mexican Americans scored higher than Anglo-Americans (p < .01) Contrary to expectation, no differences were obtained on the justice measure. The role of socialization in moral development is discussed.For more than three decades, Kohlberg's theory of moral development has been the most salient and researched (e.g., Kohlberg, 1976Kohlberg, , 1981Kohlberg, , 1985Kohlberg & Kramer, 1969). The theory incorporates a number of assumptions; one assumption is that as development progresses, interpersonal considerations are subordinated to abstract justice considerations in moral reasoning. Furthermore, Kohlberg's theory of moral development is posited as universal, applicable to men, women, and people of all cultures.

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