Effects of group intervention on moral development of distressed youths in Israel.

The effects of a positive peer culture (PPC) program [H. H. Vorrath and L. K. Brendatro (1974),Positive Peer Culture, Aladin, Chicago, Illinois] upon the moral development of "youths in distress" within the framework of streetcorner gangs was measured. This group was compared with two control groups, one related and the other unrelated to the participants. Moraldevelopment measures used in this study-resistance to temptation, moral stage, feeling after offense, punishment, and confession [A. Ziv (1976), Measuring aspects of morality.J. Moral Educ. 5: 189-201]-indicated a positive effect upon the participants, and for some moral indices, on their friends' moral development (the related group). The potential effect upon moral development of such a program and the possibility of working with representatives of youth-in-distress groups in order to produce change are stressed.