Investigating the Psychometric Properties of the Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale in a Sample of Iranian University Students: A Descriptive Study

Propensity to morally disengage is associated with numerous negative behaviors including criminal activity, aggression and bullying, misconduct at work, and unethical behavior in general. Therefore, measurement of this variable is important for researchers and clinicians. The purpose of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Propensity to Morally Disengage Scale (PMDS) in a sample of Iranian university students.

This descriptive study was conducted using 156 students from the universities of Tehran in the academic year of 2018-19. PMDS was translated to Persian and then back to English, and the gathered data from its administration were evaluated regarding face validity, structural validity, convergent construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. Data analysis was done using confirmatory factor analysis, correlation coefficient, and Cronbach’s alpha.

The conformity of Persian and English versions of the scale and its comprehensibility were confirmed via the affirmations of experts in English language and psychology, and a group of 50 unbiased subjects. Correlations between the scores of PMDS and the Moral Disengagement Scale (MDS) (0.91) and test-retest scores (0.85) were significant (p<0.001), and the indicators of the goodness of fit confirmed factor structure of the scale. Cronbach’s alpha for the scale items was estimated to be 0.80.

The Persian version of PMDS has face validity, structural validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability among Iranian university students, and can be used to measure this variable in Iranian university students.