The Journal of the World Council for Gifted and Talented Children

Table 4: The results of the (2x2) two way analysis of variance.
Tests of Between-Subjects Effects
Dependent Variable: moral judgment
Source Type III Sum of df Mean
Squares
The World Council for Gifted and Talented Children
Square
F Sig.
Corrected Model 83.965 a 3 27.988 12.977 .000
Intercept 1675.408 1 1675.408 776.796 .000
Grade 25.652 1 25.652 11.894 .001
Giftedness 37.804 1 37.804 17.528 .000
grade * giftedness 4.052 1 4.052 1.879 .172
Error 491.755 228 2.157
Total 2459.000 232
Corrected Total 575.720 231
a. R Squared = .146 (Adjusted R Squared = .135)
Based on the data in tables 3 and 4, it could be said that moral judgment differs by grade
level (which is age) in favor of the older students regardless their level of giftedness. Also it was
found that the moral judgment is changing by grade level of giftedness in favor of the gifted
students.
To answer the second research question, a multiple linear regression has been utilized.
Moral judgment was the criterion. Where, the achievement, non-verbal IQ (Raven’s), and the
creativity level (the total score on Torrance test) were the predictors. The results have been displayed
as in Table 5.
Table 5: The Results of Multiple Linear Regression Analysis.
Moral
judgment
R2 Adjusted
R2 β : Standardized Regression Coefficient
F
Non-verbal IQ Creativity Achievement
0.333 0.111 0.099 9.481** 0.020 0.298** 0.102
*: Significant at 0.05, **: Significant at 0.01, R 2 : The Coefficient of Determination, F: Fisher F-test.
This result seems logically accepted since the answers and comments on the moral
judgment exercises require creative thinking. Moral judgment is one of many aspects of social
maturity. Cognitive development research in morality has focused primarily on this aspect of moral
development.
Conclusions
The current study considered so crucial because it is one of very limited amount of research
that done on moral judgment regarding Kuwait population. That is based on a comprehensive
investigation the researcher has made. In addition, Kuwaiti society is so much similar to the whole
Arabian Gulf countries. This may shit more light on the study results to be utilized and generalized
within a wider population.
Because young children are emerging moral thinkers constrained by their cognitive
characteristics, the early childhood curriculum should provide opportunities for children to deal with
moral issues and think about right and wrong in developmentally appropriate ways (Tirri, Tallent-
Runnels, & Nokelainen, 2005). In Kuwait, Preschool teachers should be educated and heavily trained
to promote children’s moral development by dealing with issues of fairness, justice, human rights,
and caring. That is because the teacher who understands normal moral development will be aware
of the reasons young children sometimes appear to be selfish and will recognize opportunities to
promote the development of moral thinking in ways that match the child’s cognitive level of
functioning.
On the other hand, the study recommends doing a research on males as well to investigate
the differences between males and females’ morality judgment. Since women emphasize the justice
28 Gifted and Talented International – 26(1), August, 2011; and 26(2), December, 2011.