The paper describes the research results of relationship between personal autonomy and responsibility level in adolescence. The theoretical idea of unity of freedom and responsibility can be regarded as link between personal autonomy and level of responsibility in adolescence. The hypothesis of correlation between level of responsibility and autonomy in adolescence is realized. The sample includes 368 school students aged from 13 to 17, Moscow, Russia. The questionnaire to diagnose autonomy defines emotional, cognitive, intellectual and behavioural components of autonomy. The second questionnaire describes the responsibility level using the example of different moral dilemmas. The results of the empirical research describe the hypothesis on the relationship between personal autonomy and level of responsibility. Personal autonomy includes value, emotional, cognitive and behavioural components. Cluster groups with different levels of autonomy are defined: high autonomy, intellectual autonomy, low autonomy and disharmonic type of autonomy. Higher level of a number of autonomy components correlates with higher level of responsibility. Analysis of moral norm deviation shows that type and content of moral dilemma play an important role in responsibility acceptance. Gender differences in level of responsibility is defined in the following way: females show higher level of responsibility than males.
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Keywords: responsibility; adolescence; personality autonomy; moral-value orientation; emotional autonomy; cognitive autonomy; value autonomy; behavioral autonomy;
Available Online 30.03.2017
Fig. 1. Cluster centers based on the autonomy questionnaire
Table 1. Psychometric characteristics of the autonomy questionnaire
Scale |
Mean Value |
Standard Divergent Value |
Min |
Max |
Emotional Autonomy |
3.41 |
.68 |
1.67 |
5.00 |
Cognitive Autonomy |
3.54 |
.70 |
1.33 |
5.00 |
Behavioural Autonomy |
3.22 |
.65 |
1.67 |
5.00 |
Value Autonomy |
3.51 |
.65 |
1.33 |
5.00 |
Table 2. Cluster centers based on the autonomy questionnaire
Scale |
Type 1 |
Type 2 |
Type 3 |
Type 4 |
Emotional Autonomy |
4.14 |
3.67 |
3.17 |
2.77 |
Cognitive Autonomy |
4.29 |
3.41 |
4.03 |
2.77 |
Behavioural Autonomy |
4.02 |
3.05 |
3.40 |
2.72 |
Value Autonomy |
3.96 |
3.80 |
3.15 |
3.10 |
Total |
69 |
125 |
79 |
96 |
Table 3. Types of autonomy in males and females
|
Autonomy Type |
Total |
||||
Highly Autonomy |
Disharmonic Type of Autonomy |
Intellectual Autonomy |
Low Autonomy |
|||
Sex |
M |
34 |
54 |
43 |
53 |
184 |
F |
35 |
71 |
36 |
43 |
185 |
|
Total |
69 |
125 |
79 |
96 |
369 |
Table 4. Cluster centers based on the autonomy questionnaire
Scale |
Type 1 |
Type 2 |
Type 3 |
Responsibility in Situation 1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
Responsibility in Situation 2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
Responsibility in Situation 3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
Responsibility in Situation 4 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
Responsibility in Situation 5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
Responsibility in Situation 6 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
Responsibility in Situation 7 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
Responsibility in Situation 8 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
Total |
83 |
99 |
132 |
Table 5. Types of responsibility in males and females
|
Responsibility |
Total |
|||
High |
Medium |
Low |
|||
Sex |
M |
38 (25%) |
41 (28%) |
70 (47%) |
149 (100%) |
F |
45 (27%) |
58 (35%) |
62 (38%) |
165 (100%) |
|
Total |
83 |
99 |
132 |
314 |
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