Mothers\u27 and Teachers\u27 Home and School Rules: Young Children\u27s Conceptions of Authority in Context

Samples of 95 preschoolers, first graders, and third graders responded to questions whereby one authority (mother or teacher) permitted an act (moral or conventional) to occur across contexts (home and school) and the other authority prohibited the act from occurring across contexts. Participants (a) were asked which authority the child should acquiesce to and whether an authority has the right to permit and prohibit the acts across contexts and (b) ranked and rated the seriousness of the acts. The results revealed that children\u27s evaluations were a function of three interrelated factors: the authorities\u27 status, the context, and the domain of the act. Age differences in children\u27s judgments and justifications are discussed