Adolescents’ preferences for organ allocation: The role of empathy and altruism in allocation judgments

Georgiadou, T. and Fotakopoulou, Olga and Pnevmatikos, D. (2015) Adolescents’ preferences for organ allocation: The role of empathy and altruism in allocation judgments. European Journal of Developmental Psychology, 12 (3). pp. 310-323. ISSN 17405629 (ISSN)

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Abstract

Distributive justice reasoning in adolescence, regarding the allocation of scarce medical resources, has not been thoroughly studied yet. The present study aimed to explore adolescents' preferences for organ allocation, the ethical principles that form bioethical judgments in adolescence, as well as the role of empathy and altruism in the formation of those judgments. One hundred fifty one adolescents (90 females) aged between 12 and 19 years old participated in the study. Participants were asked to suggest the criteria that should be considered in the construction of transplant waiting lists, to evaluate adults' preferable criteria and to justify their judgments. Results indicate that utilitarianism and egalitarianism were both used to form allocation judgments. Ingroup favouritism was also observed. Age differences in adolescents' preferences were witnessed, but no age effect were found regarding the principles that form participants' judgments. Aspects of empathy and altruism seemed to associate with certain allocation criteria. © 2015, © 2015 Taylor & Francis.

Item Type: Article
Identification Number: https://doi.org/10.1080/17405629.2015.1010503
Dates:
DateEvent
4 May 2015Published
19 January 2015Accepted
Uncontrolled Keywords: Adolescence, Altruism, Empathy, Moral development, Organ allocation, Transplantations
Subjects: CAH04 - psychology > CAH04-01 - psychology > CAH04-01-01 - psychology (non-specific)
Divisions: Faculty of Business, Law and Social Sciences > School of Social Sciences > Dept. Psychology
Depositing User: Yasser Nawaz
Date Deposited: 09 Dec 2016 12:00
Last Modified: 03 Mar 2022 15:42
URI: https://www.open-access.bcu.ac.uk/id/eprint/1761

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