Some Psychological and Legal Issues of Mandatory Consideration of the Opinion of a Child who Has Reached the Age of Ten Years in Judicial Consideration of Disputes About His Upbringing

Abstract

In order to indicate the debatable nature of the legal norm of Art. 57 of the Family Code of the Russian Federation — the obligation to take into account the opinion of a child who has reached the age of 10 years, when considering disputes about education by the courts - the features of the analysis by children of 9.5—11 years of age (N=68) of morally ambiguous problem situations are studied. Research methods: compiling a story based on sequential pictures, Dilemmas of L. Kohlberg. It has been established that the majority of children are at the 3rd stage of the conventional level of development of moral consciousness according to Kohlberg. There are more boys among those who are not successful in understanding the hidden moral meaning of situations, and those who, in their reasoning, tend to rely on the requirements of society as a whole. Girls are more likely to draw on their own experience and are more likely to take into account the perceived experiences of another. The above results and conclusions can serve as a basis for improving the relevant legal norm and the practice of its application.