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head: UNDERSTANDING A TROUBLE MAKER 1

Understanding a Trouble Maker

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The University of South Carolina

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Students with felony drug charges are unable to receive financial aid. Students

with conduct violations often get passed up for leadership positions on college campuses.

Historically, when individuals break rules they are punished through isolation and

reduced aid. Students are judged by their past mistakes therefore shifting the roads of

opportunity available to them. What leads students to choose to break rules and what is

the best way for student affairs professionals to work with these students? Fortunately

there are theories to help explain the thought processes and needs of these students.

Perrys Theory of Ethical Development and Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development

outline student development in terms of their decision-making patterns. Schlossbergs

Transition Theory and Sanfords Theory of Challenge and Support highlight the

importance of having resources available for students facing challenges.

According to Perrys Theory of Ethical Development students go through four

positions that drive their decision making process. Students in the dualism phase believe

that there are correct answers to every question. They put all of their faith in authority

figures. If a student in this phase were to put their faith in the wrong authority figure he

or she may be led to make bad decisions. Students in the multiplicity phase think

similarly, yet they begin to see gray areas as opposed to simply black and white. These

students believe in both authority figures and their peers. Students in this phase are highly

susceptible to the dangers of peer pressure and may be convinced to abuse drugs and

alcohol or to steal. Students in the relativism and commitment to relativism phases focus

on their own opinions leading them to make their own decisions. This can be beneficial if

the students are surrounded with negative peer groups or authority figures. It can also be

negative if the students are surrounded with positive influences and decide to act out
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regardless. Along with understanding the ethical decision making processes of students, it

is crucial to understand the moral development that can contributes to negative outcomes.

Kohlbergs Theory of Moral Development highlights six stages that individuals

experience throughout their lives contributing to the creation of their moral compasses. In

stage one individuals have a lack of concern for others and make decisions for their own

benefit. If there is no threat of getting caught these individuals are more likely to break

rules such as cheating, bullying, smoking, or drinking. As the students enter stage two

they develop consideration for others and a need for equality. Students may justify their

negative actions by comparing their punishment to the punishment of others. In stage

three students begin to take into account the expectations of those close to them, such as

family or friends. If a family member needs help at a certain time a student may be more

likely to skip class to help. In stage four students become less concerned with the needs

of family and friends and focus on laws. What is right or wrong is now defined by

society. This phase gives the government or the administration of institutions a lot of

power in deciding what is best for the students. It is important for the rule makers to take

this into account. In stage five students move past the need to be accepted and do what

they believe is best for the well being of the community. Very few people make it to

stage six, however students in this stage are concerned with equality of human rights.

Students in the latter two stages are likely to be activists on campus. It is important to be

able to identify which stage students are in because the stage may explain how students

came to reach a decision therefore helping professionals understand the students needs.

While students decisions are generally based on their ethical and moral values,

transitions often effect their decisions. Schlossbergs Transition Theory provides an

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outline for student affairs professionals working to understand troubled students. The four

Ss of the theory are situation, self, supports, and strategies. All four of these factors

heavily influence how the students handle transitions in their lives. These transitions can

be anything from moving away for school, their parents divorce, a change in friends, the

death of someone close, or other life changing events. Students may react to transitions

differently. In order to understand the situation student affairs professionals should look

into the timing, how much control the student has, if there were role changes, the length

of the issue, and if the student had experienced similar issues in the past. It is also

important to understand the self, or who the student is. This would include understanding

where the student is in terms of the previously mentioned theories. One of the most

crucial of the four Ss is support. When students have strong support in the form of

family, friends, or institutional resources they are more likely to move through the

transition safely and healthily. When there is a lack of support it is shown that students

suffer. This can lead to poor decision-making in an effort to find attention or support

needed in order to move on. This ties in to the fourth aspect of the theory, which focuses

on how the student copes with the decision. There are many coping methods that can help

the student including finding information and taking action. When faced with such

challenges students are in need of support to help them with face the transitions.

Sanfords Model of Challenge and Support focuses on the readiness of the

individuals to handle certain challenges. Without challenge students are unlikely to

develop, yet too much challenge is dangerous. When students are faced with challenges

before they are ready they may regress to past behaviors. This could mean falling back to

previous stages of moral and ethical development. Other consequences could include
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students ignoring the challenges or showing non-adaptive attitudes or behaviors. This can

be seen in the form of students failing classes, not meeting expectations, or falling in to a

state of depression. The state of readiness is affected both through internal maturation and

environmental factors. When students are acting out it is often a sign that they are either

not mature enough for the challenges that they are facing or they are not receiving the

support that they need. As a result, if the university environment fails to provide

support or if the students do not experience the available supports, the additional

challenge of taking classes on top of the stresses of work and family life may be too

great (Evans, Forney, Guido, Patton, & Renn, 2010, p. 30) therefore leading to negative

actions, decisions, and behaviors. It is the responsibility of student affairs professionals to

provide support to these students.

What leads some students choose to break rules and what is the best way for

student affairs professionals to work with these students? Students are affected by their

environments. Their ethical development is dependent on the authority figures that

surround them and their moral development guides them to make decisions for different

reasons. Their development dictates whether or not they decide to follow rules. It is

crucial to understand a students ethical and moral development in order to understand

the students needs. If a student is making poor decisions it may be a result of their

environments. Students are also faced with challenges in the form of transitions. Without

support these students are likely to either reach failure or to act out. It is up to student

affairs professionals to notice, to understand, and to find a balance between challenge and

support when working with troubled students. A bad decision does not make a bad

person, it merely calls attention to an individual in need of support.

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Works Cited

Evans, N.J., Forney, D. S., Guido, F. M., Patton, L. D., & Renn, K. A. (2010). Student

development in college: Theory, research, and practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco,

CA: Jossey-Bass.