SLIDE 2.m4a SLIDE 3.m4a SLIDE 4.m4a SLIDE 5.m4a SLIDE 1.

m4a
Dylan is a student in Year 11
who is physically late maturing in comparison to his age-related peers. Dylan excelled at Basketball,
Drama, and Mathematics in his early years in high school. Dylan’s parents have ambitions for him to
receive a scholarship to attend at a prestigious university in the United States. To have a chance to receive
a scholarship, Dylan must excel at both academics and sports. Because many of his peers are now
physically taller and stronger than him, he is no longer being selected for representative basketball teams.
Dylan now tends to be withdrawn and engaging in high risk behaviours (e.g., smoking, truanting,
stealing). He no longer associates with pro-social peers and is now performing poorly in many of his
school subjects (e.g. mathematics), except for Drama. Dylan’s parents are very concerned about his
decline and current welfare. They have contacted you as Dylan’s Year Advisor and are seeking advice
regarding potential interventions from you and school.

Moral Development

Slide one
 Within the Vignette, Dylan’s late maturation
has caused him to partake in arguably immoral
behaviour
 Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs shows the
important of morality in reference to Self-
actualisation
 Moral growth is required of an adolescent
 Moral disengagement is shown to be related to
delinquency and substance abuse (Quinn &
Bussey, 2015)
Slide two
Why is Dylan’s Moral development affected?
 Isolation from previous friend leading to finding a different
friend group
 New peers regularly partake in immoral behaviour
 Peer influence is a major impactor in delinquent behaviour
(Mahwish & Abid
 , 2018)
 Hence, poor mental health and lack of belonging is leading to
immoral behaviour
Slide three
Assisting Dylan
 Piaget states that Moral development
is built within a child through their
physical and parental interactions
(Cowen et al., 1969)
 Assuming that Dylan grew up in a
household in which he was taught
Australian morals and values; Dylan
would already have that Moral
foundation
 According to Santilli & Hudson (1992), communication is key to enhancing
Moral Growth
 The research showed great success when through communication and the
teaching of interpersonal skills (1992)
 This could increase Dylan’s confidence and solidify his personality to counteract
peer pressure
Slide Four
Assisting Dylan (Continued)
 According to Mayhew & Engberg (2010), negative peer interactions destroy
moral reasoning
 Attempting to influence Dylan’s social circle can help Dylan
 Notifying the Drama teacher (Since he is doing well in Drama) and asking her for
aid in helping him
 Pushing for a more moral role from teachers and classroom environment has
been found to help students through moral growth (Mahwish & Abid, 2018)
Slide Five
Advantages and Disadvantages
ADVANTAGES
Dylan may be impacted by more ‘moral’
friends and return to his academic
excellence
Interpersonal skills could not only help
him with morality in school but outside
school and workplace
Could aid him against peer pressure
More moral roles from teachers and
school classrooms can remind Dylan to
do the right thing
DISADVANTAGES
Manipulating friend circle could create
animosity
Dylan might not reciprocate
Dylan might be past stage of peer
pressure and is addicted to alcohol and
smoking
May be difficult in practise; teachers
might not partake