Guilt And The Reason For Feeling example essay topic

What Do Children Feel Guilty About? Christopher Williams and Jane By bee of Northeastern University were interested in discovering the frequency of guilt provoking events in adolescents. They wanted to establish proof for the hypothesis that age-related changes in children were attributed to developmental changes in cognitive reasoning. Past research has indicted that children with high levels of guilt are less delinquent, more compassionate, and more academic excitable children expressing less guilt in similar situations. It has been sited that at its best guilt can bring about the aforementioned but is can also be attributed to depression and obsessive compulsive disorders. In this study, there were 240 participants (123 male and 117 female). they were grouped according to grade.

There were 85 fifth graders (40 male and 45 female), 90 eighth graders (44 male and 46 female), and 65 eleventh graders (39 male and 26 female). The subjects evaluated hailed form ethnically diverse neighborhoods of the northeast. The racial breakdown of the participants was as follows: 94 Caucasians, 110 African Americans, and 36 Hispanic. The study was conducted in each of the student's respective classrooms. The students were prompted to share three instances when they felt guilty. The investigators wanted to know the specific incidences which evoked the guilt and the reason for feeling guilty.

The three dimensions under observation were the type of situation which had occurred, the individuals involved, and the specific instances which led to the guilty feelings. There were seven situation parameters for classifying the guilt. They are guilt over transgression, of inaction, of neglect of responsibilities, of anticipation, over failure to attain ideals, of inequity, and not at fault. The second dimension included the individuals contributing the feelings of guilt and the third dimension detailed the possible guilt producing incidents (lying, truancy, property damage, et.) Analysis of collected data indicated that the type of situation evoking guilt varied with age and gender. From the 5th to 11th grades, there was a dramatic increase in the percentage of students reporting guilt from inaction, neglect of responsibilities, and failure to attain ideals. It was also noted that females sited guilt over inaction twice as often as male students.

Responses of students in higher grade levels mentioned girl- and boyfriends as the individuals evoking feelings of guilt. In the younger students, parents and siblings had a greater impact of causing guilt feelings. Unsurprisingly to me, the guilt-producing incidences most common to the 8th graders were the physically destructive acts. Eighth grade students were sited as mentioning substance abuse, truancy, and stealing. In contrast, the older students exhibited behavior that included lying, internal thoughts, and inconsiderate behaviors. The detectable gender differences were that male students reported more property damage, fighting, and victimizing of animals in comparison to female students.

Female students reported lying and inconsiderate behavior more frequently than their male counterparts. The data produced in this study does not parallel the sources of guilt feelings in adults. It has been concluded that developmental differences are related to the difference between the sources of guilt in children and adults.