Development of Sport Moral Disengagement Scale

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop the Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale derived from Bandura's (1991) Social Cognitive Theory. A total number of six hundred and forty-two college athletes, who participated in sports team were recruited from two data collection phases. The statistical analyses included exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, simultaneous multi-group covariance analysis, as well as the analysis concerning criterion-related validity. The results revealed that the Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale contained eight subscales, including ”moral justification,” ”euphemistic labeling,” ”advantageous comparison,” ”displacement of responsibility,” ”diffusion of responsibility,” ”distortion of consequences,” ”dehumanization,” and ”attribution of blame” which were measured by 32 items. Furthermore, the Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale demonstrated satisfactory reliability, validity and measurement invariance, but a few fit indices didn't reach the standards. The Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale is a key method in measuring athletes' moral disengagement. And it was found that athletes, who participated in football, handball, and basketball teams have higher moral disengagement than other sport teams. Male college athletes had higher moral disengagement than female ones. This data conclude that the relevant suggestions about revising Moral Disengagement in Sport Scale are proposed to the further research.