A projective type essay was administered to a sample of (N = 1766) Vic torian adolescents in seven schools from which it was possible to derive data concerning the general moral attitudes of various categories of young persons. This data was compared with a similar usage of the instrument in the early 1960s in England. In brief much the same mental structure seemed to be applied to moral matters and the nature of the attitudes were not greatly changed. Some differences between boys and girls remain. With age adolescents appear to use a more rational approach. Differences between school types were few. Over time the direction of change seems to be towards more emphasis on the inter personal and less on social goals. Finally, there are no signs of the moral anarchy sometimes attributed to youth. As a conclusion these substantive findings are related to some aspects of sociological theory.
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