TEMPERAMENT AND SOCIALIZATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF GUILT AND CONSCIENCE

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The processes of development of guilt and internalized conscience are studied in the sample of children of well and depressed mothers. The children are 8 to 10 years old at the time of assessment, and have been followed since toddlerhood (in the study 79-M-123). Relative contributions of children's temperamental qualities and socialization experiences in the family are the focus of the study. The findings indicate that early responses to parental socialization (between 1 and 3 years of age) are predictive of the subsequent development of internalized conscience. Early compliance to parental directives and prohibitions--the early manifestation of the child's ability to modulate a forbidden impulse--clearly paves the way to the further internalization process. Parental authoritative rearing orientation is associated with the child's high moral internalization, but only in children who are relatively prone to experience fear and anxiety. This study highlights an important mediating function of the child's temperamental qualities in the process of socialization in the family and moral development.