Fairness, Rights, and Harm in Early Childhood: A 2-Year Investigation of Moral Family Conflict

The present study examined polyadic family conflicts (i.e., involving three or more active members) comprising moral issues (i.e., fairness, rights, harm) across a 2-year period in early childhood. Moral conflicts were coded for initiating parties, topic, and use of power strategies. Thirty-nine families participated in six 90-min naturalistic observations when children were 2- and 4-years of age at T1 and again two years later (T2). Findings indicated the majority of polyadic family conflict topics concerned three moral issues, specifically, conflicts pertaining to issues of fairness and harm occurred significantly more than conflicts about rights. Disputes about fairness were more common at T1 than T2, whereas those about rights were more common at T2 than T1. Further, children were more likely to initiate disputes over fairness and harm, whereas parents frequently initiated conflicts about rights. Lastly, in terms of power strategies, coercion was used most frequently across moral topics. Findings expand the conflict literature by investigating the family as an integrated unit and examining the involvement of its members in young children’s development of morality.