IDENTIFYING EARLY ADOLESCENTS AT-RISK FOR BEHAVIORS HARMFUL TO THEMSELVES AND OTHERS: A REVISION OF THE DEFINING ISSUES TEST.

Description

Escalating youth violence has become a public health concern. One risk factor associated with such behaviors is a failure to reason about problems from a perspective beyond self-interest, a cognitive transition expected to occur normally by 13 years of age. The purpose of this instrumentation study was to develop and test a revision of an existing measure of moral reasoning, the Defining Issues Test, which could be used with young adolescents. The cognitive tasks inherent in the DIT restrict its use below the 9th grade. The revised test (DIT-R) retained the form of the parent instrument. Only importance items representing stages 1-4 of Kohlberg's theory of moral development were included. The reading level was lowered to 6th grade and one scenario was reframed with content felt to be more relevant to the target population. The DIT-R was tested with 146 students in 7th (n = 71), 8th (n = 50) and 9th (n = 25) grades from three private schools in a metropolitan southern city. Five weeks after initial testing, 40 7th graders retested with the DIT-R, and 14 9th grade students tested with the DIT. Three scoring methods were explored: single-choice, ideal point and weighted. The weighted scoring method had good internal reliability (Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha.78) and test stability of (p =.001). Factor analysis of the importance items using the weighted scoring method showed inconsistency, with both stage 1 and stage 4 items loading on the same factor. No data obtained in this study supported the validity of the DIT-R as a measure of moral reasoning. The small sample size, the use of the DIT as a validity measure, the homogeneity of the subjects, and the content validity of some of the importance items were identified as threats to statistical conclusion validity which may have affected this outcome. Findings from this study indicate that additional research is needed to develop a valid instrument to measure the early stages of moral reasoning in young adolescents. Future research, whether using a refinement of the DIT-R or another approach, should also include youngsters already behaving in ways harmful to themselves or others.

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