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There has been considerable study of the development of moral reasoning in adolescence within the cognitive-developmental paradigm, but less empirical attention to the development of moral valuing and motivation. In a two-year longitudinal study, we examined the correlates of high-school students' endorsement of explicitly moral values as ideals for the self. Those who reported being involved in community helping activities at age 17 were subsequently more likely to increase their relative emphasis on the importance of prosocial moral values for themselves. As predicted, an authoritative family parenting style was associated with more parent-adolescent value agreement in general (regarding both moral and non-moral values). Particularly for males, reports of greater parent monitoring and strictness were associated with more emphasis on moral values for the self. This relation between parental strictness and males' self-ideals was mediated over time by perceived stronger emphases on moral values by both parents and friends. These findings suggest the potential utility of studying moral motivation to help understand prosocial development in adolescence.

Expectations about university and subsequent adjustment in the first year were examined in a longitudinal study of the transition to university. Two hundred and twenty-six students (158 females and 68 males) completed a preuniversity questionnaire in the summer prior to beginning university, and another questionnaire in February of their first year. The preuniversity questionnaire contained measures that assessed perceived stress and the amount and sources of information students had about university, as well as open-ended questions concerning their expectations about university. Responses to the open-ended questions were coded for integrative complexity of thought. The February questionnaire contained measures of adjustment to university. Results indicated that students with more complex expectations about university tended to adjust better to stressful circumstances than did students who had simpler expectations. The stress-buffering properties of complex expectations are discussed, as are some of the factors that may contribute to more complex thinking about university.

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