Growing up in state care may influence impact socio-cognitive development in ways that shape moral judgments. Our study examined Theory of Mind (ToM) and moral judgments in 107 adolescents, 66 girls and 41 boys, ( M age = 15 years, 8 months, SD = 2.64), including 52 adolescents in state care (ASC) and 55 living with their biological family (i.e., adolescents in family care; AFC). They completed four ToM tasks, evaluated a set of intentional and unintentional harm scenarios, and a self-beneficial rule-breaking act, i.e., theft. Results showed that, compared to AFC, ASC scored lower on most ToM tasks, had greater difficulty exculpating accidental harm (i.e., attributed more negative intentions), and judged theft more leniently, i.e., as less immoral and less deserving of punishment. These findings extend Baez et al. (2018) to a Romanian mixed-gender sample showing similar patterns of condemning accidental harm and impaired ToM judgments. Overall, the findings suggest that adolescents reared in state care show a distinctive pattern of moral judgment across different types of transgressions, with greater difficulty exculpating accidental harm and greater leniency toward intentional self-beneficial rule-breaking. • Institutionalized adolescents showed greater difficulty exculpating accidental harm. • Adolescents in state care showed lower Theory of Mind performance than peers in family care. • Adolescents in state care judged theft as less immoral and less deserving of punishment. • Findings extend Baez et al. (2018) to a Romanian mixed-gender sample.
Pascal et al. (Wed,) studied this question.