# Modeling children’s moral development in postwar Taiwan through naturalistic observations preserved in historical texts

## TL;DR

This study explores how children in postwar rural Taiwan developed moral behaviors through naturalistic observations, revealing complex interactions between age, gender, and social roles.

## Contribution

The study provides novel naturalistic data on children's moral development in a non-Western cultural context using historical field research.

## Key findings

- Children's moral behaviors were shaped by complex interactions of age, sex, kinship, and behavioral roles.
- Prosocial and aggressive behaviors were linked, showing nuanced moral strategies in peer interactions.
- Gendered patterns and age-related trends in moral behavior contradicted cultural norms and assumptions.

## Abstract

A core issue in the interdisciplinary study of human morality is its ontogeny in diverse cultures, but systematic, naturalistic data in specific cultural contexts are rare to find. This study conducts a novel analysis of 213 children’s socio-moral behavior in a historical, non-Western, rural setting, based on a unique dataset of naturalistic observations from the first field research on Han Chinese children. Using multilevel multinomial modeling, we examined a range of proactive behaviors in 0-to-12-year-old children’s peer cooperation and conflict in an entire community in postwar Taiwan. We modeled the effects of age, sex, kinship, and behavioral roles, and revealed complex interactions between these four variables in shaping children’s moral development. We discovered linkages between coercive and non-coercive behaviors as children strategically negotiated leadership dynamics. We identified connections between prosocial and aggressive behaviors, illuminating the nuances of morality in real life. Our analysis also revealed gendered patterns and age-related trends that deviated from cultural norms and contradicted popular assumptions about Chinese family values. These findings highlight the importance of naturalistic observations in cultural contexts for understanding how we become moral persons. This re-analysis of historically significant fieldnotes also enriches the interdisciplinary study of child development across societies.