Relational and physical aggression in middle childhood: Relations with moral knowledge and moral emotions

Relations between physical and relational aggression and moral knowledge and emotions were investigated in a sample of 237 7- and 9-year-old primary school children. Firstly, we expected that physical aggression would be associated with deficits in moral knowledge and moral emotions. Secondly, we hypothesized that relational aggression is negatively related to moral emotions, but is not related to moral knowledge. Relational and physical aggression were assessed by peer nominations and teacher ratings. Moral knowledge was measured by moral judgments and justifications of these judgments, moral emotions were measured by emotion attributions and corresponding justifications. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that physical aggression was associated with deficits in moral knowledge and moral emotions. Relational aggression, however, was not associated with moral deficits, but was related to an advanced understanding of moral emotions. This finding may indicate that children with high levels of relational aggression use their advanced understanding of moral emotion for strategic purposes.