Perceived Civil Rights and Moral Competence in Iranian Adults

Abstract

Civil Rights theories upon which this study is based are the conviction, social change and culture’s constraints theories of Civil Rights, whilst moral competence has been considered from the perspective of moral intelligence, moral competence and dual-aspect theories of morality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived Civil Rights and moral competence; to analyze the role of perceived Civil Rights in the prediction of moral competence; and to investigate the role of gender on these constructs in a sample of Iranian adults. The randomly selected sample consisted of 400 adult participants (M = 190 and F = 210) from the cities of Abadeh, Bavanat, Eghlid and Khorambid; the north of Fars Province, Iran. A demographic questionnaire, the Perceived Civil Rights Scale (PCRS) and the Moral Competency Inventory (MCI) were used in this study. Findings showed that perceived Civil Rights and its subscales had significant relationships to the MCI and its subscales. The personal space subscale of perceived Civil Rights predicted 18 % of the total of the moral competency’s variability in this sample. It was also found that males had higher scores on the free confession and testimony subscale of perceived Civil Rights, whilst females had higher scores on the standing up for rightness subscale of moral competency.