Measuring the content of moral judgment development: The Revised Moral Authority Scale (MAS-R)
- Authors
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Fiona White
University of Newcastle
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- Keywords:
- social behavior, social psychology, measuring, content, moral, judgment, development, Revised Moral Authority Scale, (MAS-R), psychometric, properties, decision, making, Defining Issues Test, Visions of Morality Scale, adolescents, parents, political,
- Abstract
- This paper investigates the psychometric properties of the revised Moral Authority Scale (MAS-R), a unique content-based scale, which measures an individual's attributed level of influence to sources of moral authority in their moral decision making. In order to examine these psychometric properties, the MAS-R, Rest's (1979) Defining Issues Test (DIT) and Shelton & McAdams (1990) Visions of Morality Scale (VMS) were administered to 186 adolescents and their parents. Results indicated that the test-retest and split-half reliabilities of the MAS-R subscales were high. With regard to the validity of the scale, predicted levels of convergence were found between MAS-R subscales and the DIT stage scores but not between the MAS-R subscales and the VMS subscales. It was also found that the MAS-R discriminated between subjects' political and religious affiliations further strengthening its validity. Moreover, the item-total correlational analysis suggests that the MAS-R has strong structural validity. The present findings concerning the psychometric properties of the MAS-R not only replicate previous findings involving the MAS (White, 1996b) but provide stronger support amongst a broader sample. Important research implications for the use of the MAS-R within a family socialization framework of the content of moral thought are explicated.
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- Published
- 1997-11-01
- Issue
- Volume 25, 1997, Issue 4
- Section
- Articles
- License
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