MEASURING THE CONTENT OF MORAL JUDGMENT DEVELOPMENT - THE REVISED MORAL AUTHORITY SCALE (MAS-R)

This paper investigates the psychometric properties of the revised Mor al Authority Scale (MAS-R), a unique content-based scale, which measur es an individual's attributed level of influence to sources of moral a uthority in their moral decision making. In order to examine these psy chometric properties, the MAS-R, Rest's (1979) Defining Issues Test (D IT) and Shelton & McAdams (1990) Visions of Morality Scale (VMS) were administered to 186 adolescents and their parents. Results indicated t hat the test-retest and split-half reliabilities of the MAS-R subscale s were high. With regard to the validity of the scale, predicted level s 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 w as also found that the MAS-R discriminated between subjects' political and religious affiliations further strengthening its validity. Moreov er, the item-total correlational analysis suggests that the MAS-R has strong structural validity. The present findings concerning the psycho metric properties of the MAS-R not only replicate previous findings in volving 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 socialisation framework of the content of moral tho ught are explicated.