UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff MMiissssoouurrii,, SStt.. LLoouuiiss IIRRLL @@ UUMMSSLL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 8-15-2016 CChhaarraacctteerr EEdduuccaattiioonn aanndd AAddoolleesscceennttss'' MMoorraall IIddeennttiittyy DDeevveellooppmmeenntt ((AAccttuuaall aanndd IIddeeaall)) Amani Faisal Qashmer University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Education Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Qashmer, Amani Faisal, "Character Education and Adolescents' Moral Identity Development (Actual and Ideal)" (2016). Dissertations. 63. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/63 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Character Education and Adolescents’ Moral Identity Development (Actual and Ideal) Amani F. Qashmer BA, Elementary Education, The Faculty of Educational Sciences and Arts/UNRWA, 2007 MA, Educational Psychology/ Learning and Development, The University of Jordan, 2009 MED, Educational Psychology, The University of Missouri St. Louis, 2015 A Dissertation Submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Missouri - St. Louis in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education with an emphasis in Educational Psychology July, 2016 Advisory Committee Marvin Berkowitz, Ph.D Chairperson Wolfgang Althof, Ph.D Natalie Bolton, Ph.D Sam Hardy, Ph.D Copyright, Amani F. Qashmer, 2016 UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS THE GRADUATE SCHOOL Preliminary Approval of Dissertation and Oral Defense (D-6) One copy of the dissertation, certified as complete and provisionally acceptable to the committee, will be submitted to the Graduate school at least six weeks prior to commencement. The Dean of the Graduate School may assign the dissertation to other readers on or off the campus, or seek other advice. The final examination committee will consist of all members of the dissertation committee and such other members of the graduate faculty as seem appropriate. STUDENT NAME: Amani Qashmer STUDENT NUMBER 18100435 ORAL DEFENSE DATE: July 21, 2016 DEGREE: Ph.D. I understand that my student account balance must be zero before I submit my final copies of my dissertation. ________________________________________(cid:1)Student Signature Date DISSERTATION ADVISOR: ________________________________________(cid:1)Signature Date OTHER ENDORSEMENTS:(cid:1) ____________________________ ________________________ Date Date ___________________________ _________________________ Date Date Chair/Dir. of Graduate Studies Date Graduate Dean Date ! Dedication Most of all thanks and Al-Hamd to Allah the Divine who makes the impossible possible. There are a number of people without whom this dissertation might not have been written, and to whom I am greatly indebted. It is with my genuine gratefulness and warmest regard that I dedicate this dissertation to … My dear husband, Feras AlSmaik, who supported me each step of the way. Who left his family, career, friends, and country for four years for my degree. There is no doubt in my mind that without his continued support, tolerance, enthusiasm, and counsel I could not have completed this process. A very special thank you for providing a ‘writing space’ and for nurturing me through the months of writing. My father, Faisal Qashmer, whose passion for nurturing youth motivated me to conduct my research on character education. Who has always been a relationship builder, a mediator, a problem solver, and most importantly an educator who fosters students’ character. My mother, Basma Khudroj, who continues to learn and develop and who has been a source of encouragement and inspiration to me throughout my life. Who taught me how to set my goals and priorities and how to maintain the balance between my roles as a mother, a wife, a student, and most importantly as a Muslim. My friend and uncle, Mr. Fahd Dawood, and his wife, Mrs. Subheyah Dawood, who have always been the best friends for my family. Who provided the main financial resource that enabled me to be awarded the study abroad scholarship. Without whom I would not have a doctoral degree from the United States of America. ! Acknowledgment I would like to acknowledge my advisor Dr. Marvin Berkowitz. He has generously given his time and expertise to better my work and skills as a researcher. I thank him for his contribution and his good-natured support. He lovingly challenged and supported me throughout the whole of this work - knowing when to push and when to let up. He has been not only my academic advisor, but he has also been my mentor and counselor. I would like to acknowledge the members of my dissertation committee, Dr. Wolfgang Alhof, Dr. Natalie Bolton, and Dr. Sam Hardy. The time and energy they put into this dissertation helped make it what it is. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the educational staff and students at the middle schools who participated in this study. ! ! 1! CHARACTER!EDUCATION!AND!MORAL!IDENTITY!! ! ABSTRACT Moral identity is the individual’s degree of considering his or her moral character as a dominant part of his or her self-concept (Bock & Samuelson, 2015). Moral identity is a part of one’s character. Character education is a means of facilitating moral/character development. This research is an effort to examine the relationship between character education and moral identity (actual and ideal). The purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence that moral identity is an outcome of character education. In order to better understand how character education impacts moral identity development, a clearer understanding of identity as a concept is necessary. In this study it was hypothesized that (a) adolescents in character education schools (high and medium implementation) have higher levels of moral identity (actual and ideal) than those in other schools; and (b) within character education schools (high and medium implementation), adolescents involved in specific character education activities/experiences show higher levels of moral identity (actual and ideal) than those who are not involved in these experiences. Two measures were used in the study. The first measure was the Moral Identity Scale by Aquino and Reed (2002), and the second was the Moral Ideal Self Scale by Hardy, Walker, Olsen, Woodbury, and Hickman (2013). This study involved over 1500 Midwest US middle school students. ! 2! CHARACTER!EDUCATION!AND!MORAL!IDENTITY!! A Pearson product-moment correlation and an analysis of variance (ANOVA) were run on the quantitative data to determine equivalency and differences between groups. Statistically significant differences were found between the groups mean scores on the Moral Identity Scale (actual identity) and Moral Ideal Self Scale (ideal identity). Higher character education implementation was significantly related to higher moral identity (actual and ideal), participation in specific character education experiences was also significantly related to moral identity. Study results suggest that character education has the potential to support adolescents’ moral identity development. It is hoped that this study will fuel scientific research regarding character education, provide educators with information on character education’s impact on adolescents’ moral identity development, and encourage schools to deeply incorporate character education into their practices. ! ! 3! CHARACTER!EDUCATION!AND!MORAL!IDENTITY!! TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ………………………………………………………………………. 1 Table of Contents …………………………………………………………….. 3 List of Tables ………………………………………………………………… 6 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION AND REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE Identity ……………………………………………………………………….. 9 Self vs. Identity …………………………………………………………... 10 Identity Functions ………………………………………………………... 11 Identity as a Source of Integrity ……………………………………… 11 Identity as a Source of Motivation …………………………………… 11 Identity as a Source of Commitment ………………………………… 12 Identity Formation (Psychosocial Perspective) …………………………... 13 Possible Selves ………………………………………………………………. 15 Possible Selves as Motivation ……………………………………………. 17 Possible Selves and Life Purpose ………………………………………… 18 Possible Selves and Identity Formation ………………………………….. 19 Moral Identity ………………………………………………………………... 19 Moral Identity Formation and Components ………………………………. 20 Moral Identity in Adolescence ……………………………………………. 22 Moral Ideal Identity ………………………………………………………. 23 Moral Identity and School ………………………………………………... 24 Character Education………………………………………………………….. 24 Moral Education and Character Education ………………………………. 25 Character Education Goals………………………………………………... 27 Character Education Programs …………………………………………… 27 Character Education and Moral Identity ………………………………….. 28 Character Education Features …………………………………………….. 29 Empowerment ………………………………………………………… 29 Caring and Safe Climate ……………………………………………… 31 Positive Relationships ……………………………………………….... 32 Cooperative Learning ………………………………………………… 33 Conclusion ………………………………………………………………... 35 Purpose of the Study …………………………………………………….... 35 Research Hypotheses ……………………………………………………... 37 CHAPTER 2: METHODS Research Design …………………………………………………………... 38 Population and Sampling …………………………………………………. 38 Group 1 ……………………………………………………………….. 41 ! ! 4! CHARACTER!EDUCATION!AND!MORAL!IDENTITY!! Group 2 ………………………………………………………………... 41 Group 3………………………………………………………………… 42 Missing Values ……………………………………………………………. 44 Measures …………………………………………………………………... 44 Demographic Survey ………………………………………………….. 44 Dependent Variables …………………………………………………... 45 The Actual Moral Identity …………………………………………….. 45 The Ideal Moral Identity ……………………………………………… 46 Reliability of Instruments …………………………………………………. 46 Independent Variables …………………………………………………….. 47 Demographic Variables …………………………………………………… 47 Ethical Considerations ……………………………………………………. 48 Data Collection Procedures ……………………………………………….. 48 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS Sample Description ………………………………………………………….. 52 Correlation Between Instruments ………………………………………......... 54 The First Research Hypothesis Results ……………………………………… 54 Group Equivalency …………………………………………………... 54 Three Groups Comparisons ………………………………………….. 56 Two Groups Comparisons …………………………………………… 57 The Second Hypothesis Results ……………………………………………... 58 CHAPTER 4: DISCUSSION Study Summary ……………………………………………………………. 63 Findings ……………………………………………………………………. 63 The first Research Hypothesis ………………………………………. 61 The Relation of Character Education to Moral Identity (Actual and Ideal)…………………………………………………………….. 64 The Second Research Hypothesis ……………………………………. 65 The Relation of Particular Character Education Experiences to 65 Moral Identity(Actual and Ideal) ……………………………….. Concluding Remarks ……………………………………………………... 67 Significance …………………………………………………………. 67 Limitations ………………………………………………………….. 68 Future Directions……………………………………………………. 69 REFERENCES …........................................................................................... 71 ! ! 5! CHARACTER!EDUCATION!AND!MORAL!IDENTITY!! APPENDICES Appendix A: Demographic Survey ….…………………………………… 82 Appendix B: The Moral Self Scale ………………………………………. 84 Appendix C: The Moral Ideal Self Scale ………………………….……... 86 Appendix D: The IRB Approval ……………………………..…………... 87 Appendix E: Parental Consent Form ……………………………..……… 89 Appendix F: Child Assent Form ……………...………………………….. 91 Appendix G: Principals’ Information Sheet …………………………....... 92 !!!!!!!Appendix H:!!Teachers’ Instruction Sheet ……………………………….! 95! ! ! ! ! ! ! !