Psychometric Properties of the Short Form of the Adolescent Moral Character Scale

Subject Areas : Evaluation

Farhad Khormaei ¹ , Fateme Azadi Dehbidi ² , Seyed Mehdi Poorseyed ³

1 - Educational Psychology Department, Educational Sciences & Psychology Faculty, Shiraz University, Shiraz. Iran
2 - Department of Psychology, Eghlid Higher Education Center, Eghlid, Iran.
3 - Department of Psychology and Counselling, Farhangian University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2024-09-27 Accepted : 2024-12-12 Published : 2024-09-07

Keywords: Islamic ethics, moral character, etiquette character trait, conscientiousness character trait,

Abstract :

Given the central role of ethics in the education of adolescents, moral character has gained remarkable attention over the past decades. In that regard, the present study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the short form of the Adolescent Moral Character Scale. The short form of the scale comprises six components (etiquette / rudeness, pious / denialist, conscientiousness / procrastination, forgiveness / confrontation, submissive / rebellious, and independent / dependent) and includes 18 items. This scale was adapted from the Adult Moral Character Scale (Khormaei & Ghaemi, 2018). The long form of the Moral Character Scale was developed through a review of key Islamic ethical sources and interviews with experts and students. To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Adolescent Moral Character Scale, 540 middle and high school students (256 boys and 284 girls) from Shiraz were selected using cluster random sampling and completed the Moral Character Scale. In order to determine the validity of this tool, confirmatory factor analysis and criterion validity methods were used. The data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, which confirmed the six-factor structure of the Adolescent Moral Character Scale. The results of criterion validity also confirmed the correlation of the total score of the moral character scale and its sub-scales with the total score of the Academic Destructive Behaviors Scale and its sub-scales, as well as the score of the Academic Citizenship Behaviors Scale. Additionally, Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the scale's reliability, and the results indicated suitable reliability for all subscales and the total score. Therefore, the Adolescent Moral Character Scale is applicable within the Iranian cultural context and can be effectively used in research related to adolescent ethics.

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