The Role of Sports Practice in Young Adolescent Development of Moral Competence

Impact of goal orientation on moral competence development in youth

The study had two aims. The first was to investigate correlation between specific types of goal orientation as a predictor of prosocial and antisocial functioning and level of moral competences. The second, was to verify whether goal orientation has an impact on the development of moral competences of students participating in a pedagogical intervention based on non-linear pedagogy. Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire and Moral Competence Test were used to assess 468 secondary school students aged 15 in goal orientation and moral competences level. There was no correlation between the level of task and ego orientation and the level of moral competence. Under the influence of pedagogical experiment students with high level of task orientation achieved a statistically significantly higher change in the level of moral competences (η2 = 0.04). Study suggests that high level of task orientation is more susceptible to the development of moral competencies. Also, employing a non-linear pedagogy model in physical education, provides a conducive environment for the development of moral competences and should be implemented in the training of future physical education teachers.

Evaluating ChatGPT's moral competence in health care-related ethical problems

Objectives

Artificial intelligence tools such as Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT) have been used for many health care-related applications; however, there is a lack of research on their capabilities for evaluating morally and/or ethically complex medical decisions. The objective of this study was to assess the moral competence of ChatGPT.

Materials and methods

This cross-sectional study was performed between May 2023 and July 2023 using scenarios from the Moral Competence Test (MCT). Numerical responses were collected from ChatGPT 3.5 and 4.0 to assess individual and overall stage scores, including C-index and overall moral stage preference. Descriptive analysis and 2-sided Student's t-test were used for all continuous data.

Results

A total of 100 iterations of the MCT were performed and moral preference was found to be higher in the latter Kohlberg-derived arguments. ChatGPT 4.0 was found to have a higher overall moral stage preference (2.325 versus 1.755) when compared to ChatGPT 3.5. ChatGPT 4.0 was also found to have a statistically higher C-index score in comparison to ChatGPT 3.5 (29.03 ± 11.10 versus 19.32 ± 10.95, P =.0000275).

Discussion

ChatGPT 3.5 and 4.0 trended towards higher moral preference for the latter stages of Kohlberg's theory for both dilemmas with C-indices suggesting medium moral competence. However, both models showed moderate variation in C-index scores indicating inconsistency and further training is recommended.

Conclusion

ChatGPT demonstrates medium moral competence and can evaluate arguments based on Kohlberg's theory of moral development. These findings suggest that future revisions of ChatGPT and other large language models could assist physicians in the decision-making process when encountering complex ethical scenarios.

Improving moral competence in adolescents through non-linear pedagogy in the context of physical education and sport

BACKGROUND

The development of moral competence seems to be an important factor in the context of youth development. The problem with lack of moral competence among youth has often been observed. Physical education (PE) as a subject in school seems to provide space in the curriculum where moral development can and should be experienced and practiced.

METHODS

The participants were high school students (N.=235), divided into 4 groups: two experimental and two control groups. The difference between the experimental groups was the frequency of the experiment. The first group carried out two units a week for one semester, and the second group one lesson unit throughout the school year. As a research tool the Moral Competence Test was used.

RESULTS

The results indicate statistically significant positive changes between the score of Community Index (C-Index) in pretest and post-test for both experimental group (P<0.05; η2=0.04), and between pretest and follow-up in second experimental group (P<0.05; η2=0.05). Whereas in the control groups, there were no significant changes in the comparison of terms (pretest, post-test, follow-up) (P>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the study, it can be determined that the curriculum of physical education, based on the model of non-linear pedagogy, can increase the level of moral competence among young people.

Psychological Capital on College Teachers' and Students' Entrepreneurial Performance and Sports Morality Under Social and Political Education

The aim of this study was to improve the entrepreneurial performance (EP) and sports morality of college teacher-and-student entrepreneurs (i.e., college entrepreneurs). Consequently, psychological capital (PsyCap) is creatively combined with social and political education (SPE) to explore college entrepreneurs' EP and sports morality. First, following a theoretical model implementation, this article proposes several hypotheses. Then, a questionnaire survey (QS) was designed, and the data were analyzed. The results show that (1) gender has little impact on EP and sports morality; (2) PsyCap significantly affects the EP of college entrepreneurs at the age of 33-38 years; (3) in terms of educational background, average scores of PsyCap + SPE of bachelors are the highest, followed by masters or above, and finally, the college undergraduate; (4) the average score of PsyCap + SPE of married respondents is 4.0, while that of the unmarried is 3.7; (5) there is a significant difference between college entrepreneurs' EP under the dimension of the basic enterprise situation; and (6) the average score of the length of entrepreneurship is 9.87, which has the most significant impact on the EP and sports morality, and the significance of sports morality is 0.04. Among them, the most significant impact on EP and sports morality is weekly sports participation, with a score of 9.67. Therefore, PsyCap + SPE plays a positive role in the EP of college entrepreneurs. In contrast, sports morality has little impact on EP. This study provides a reference for the research on the influence of entrepreneurship and sports morality of college entrepreneurs.

Fair Play in a Context of Physical Education and Sports Behaviours

The study examined prosocial behaviour and the perception of fair play in the context of physical education and sport (PES) in adolescents participating in sports, and those not undertaking sports at all. The aim of this study was to explore and indicate potential associations between an understanding of the concept of fair play and selected behaviours (e.g., abiding by the rules, obeying decisions of the referee and sportsmanship) in youth. In total, 1257 secondary school students, aged 16.1 ± 0.87 years (627 girls and 600 boys), were recruited. For assessing the level of fair play awareness (L), the Fair Play Moral Dimensions Concept Scale (FPMDCS) was used. To measure the declared level of prosocial behaviours of students, the survey My Physical Education Class (MPEC) was used. Participants were divided into groups in relation to training experience (no sports, amateur sports, professional sports) and subgroups, with levels according to their understanding of the Fair Play concept (L₁ to L₃). The results show significant difference in all dilemmas in various groups in relation to scores in subgroup L₃ (p = 0.056; p = 0.012; p = 0.003) with regard to subgroups L₂ and L₁ in the level of understanding fair play. Overall, the percentage of respondents who view fair play only in the context of sport (L₁) is 69%. Far fewer are those (31%) who understand it more broadly as a principle that applies to everyday life situations (L₃). It seems to be crucial to promote moral development during PES activities, especially the value of respect.

Exploring relational and moral features in medical students

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to explore empathy, moral competencies, callous traits, and temperament in a sample of medical students. Furthermore, we aimed to investigate differences in our variables across the 1st and 5th years of medical education and possible correlations between them.

METHODS

This was a cross-sectional study with 138 medical students. We resorted to self-reported instruments that were given at the end of classes: Barrett-Lennard Relational Inventory, Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa and San Diego Auto-questionnaire, Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits, and Moral Competence Test. For the statistical analysis, we resorted to descriptive and inferential statistics, using non-parametric tests when data didn't follow a normal distribution.

RESULTS

We found no statistical difference between empathy scores in 1st (N=104, Mean=41.42, SD=22.48) and 5th year students (N=34, Mean=37.35, SD=23.35), t₍₁₃₆₎=0.908, p=0.366. Callous traits were negatively correlated with empathy (r₍₁₃₆₎=-0.444, p=0.000) and no correlation between moral competences and empathy (r₍₉₆₎=0.029, p=0.779) was observed. We found a negative correlation between empathy and cyclothymic, anxious and irritable temperaments (r₍₁₃₆₎=-0.334, p=0.000, r₍₁₃₆₎=-0.281, p=0.001, r₍₁₃₆₎=-0.400, p=0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

Our scores corroborate previous evidence that medical students are empathic, have good moral standards and low callous traits. We saw no differences in empathy scores between the two years and future studies could explore the particulars of medical curriculums impacting this variable. In our study, empathy was negatively correlated with callous traits and linked with specific temperaments. Considering these variables at admission to medical school as well as preserving and improving them in medical education might offer better standards of care.