FAMILY WELL-BEING AS DETERMINANT OF MORAL REASONING DEVELOPMENT: IMPLICATIONS FOR COUNSELLING IN NIGERIA

Abstract

This research examines the roles of family well-being in the moral reasoning of Nigerian
adolescents for counselling efficacy. It focuses on the financial aspect of the family. It analyses
how the family structure and processes influence cognitive and moral learning according to
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory and Kohlberg’s moral development stages. This
is where the focus of the study is timed when socio-economic problems put pressure on family
systems in a collectivist society in Nigeria—studying family well-being and adolescents’ moral
development based on the correlational research design. Information source: Survey
questionnaires were administered to 200 selected secondary school students in Lagos State
only. Descriptive analysis, as well as inferential tools such as regression analysis and
Pearson’s coefficient, were used. This study established a positive correlation between the
family welfare, especially that of parents, and the moral reasoning of the adolescent clients (F
(2, 197) = 14.506; p < 0.05). Family well-being proved to have a positive and significant
correlation with moral reasoning development; r = 0.31, p < 0.05. The parents’ financial status
during the study had a positive correlation with the adolescents’ moral reasoning gain with r =
0.31, p < 0.05 and the test score of r = 0.33, p < 0.05. The findings themselves are suggestive
of quite strong relations between the state of family affairs, parents’ finances, and the level of
moral development. The study therefore establishes the fact that family social conditions of well
-being and financial capacity play a role in the development of adolescent moral development.
The results should guide counselling programme in Nigeria as they integrate conflict-solving
and financial management into their programmes tentatively offering solutions involving entire
families employing cultural sensitivity to enhance ethical reasoning of children.