Assessing civic moral disengagement: Dimensionality and construct validity

Moral disengagement has been introduced by Bandura to address psychosocial mechanisms by which individuals mitigate the moral consequences of harmful behaviors. Proper measures to assess moral disengagement mechanisms for aggression and violence (MDs) have been made available since long (Bandura, Barbaranelli, Caprara, & Pastorelli, 1996). As same mechanism may serve self-exonerative functions when violating civic duties and obligations, a specific measure has been developed to assess civic moral disengagement (CMDs). Two studies have been conducted to assess the psychometric properties of the CMDs using both cross-sectional and longitudinal data. In the first study, dimensionality and internal consistency of the new scale were investigated in a sample of 2395 subjects. In the second study, predictive and discriminant validity of CMDs with respect to MDs were investigated on a longitudinal sample of 290 adolescents. Findings attest to unidimensionality, internal consistency and discriminant validity of CMDs. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier Ltd.