Research about the structure of character has largely assessed purported universal attributes. However, character develops within specific social, cultural and institutional contexts. As part of the first wave of a longitudinal study (Project Arete) of character development among cadets at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point,…

Short-term service-learning experiences such as alternative breaks are increasing in popularity due to the focus on service in higher education and the institution's responsibility to ensure students are graduating with the skills needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive, global economy and contribute to a democratic society as citizens…

Many higher education studies have examined linear relationships between student experiences and outcomes, but this assumption may be questionable. In two notable examples previous research that assumed a linear relationship reached different substantive conclusions and implications than did research that explored non-linear associations among the…

Multicultural counseling is often promoted as a core element in counselor development. As such, educational efforts aim to increase counselors' cultural relativism, or their ability to recognize their own enculturation and to appreciate the value of other cultural norms. This mixed qualitative-quantitative study explored the relationship between…

Are athletics a positive or negative educational force? The viewpoint widely shared across academe is that participation in intercollegiate athletics has a positive impact on students and contributes to learning and moral development. Often, this notion is captured in the phrase "character development," a shorthand way to describe the individual…

This quantitative study used the Defining Issues Test-2 (DIT-2) and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) to evaluate the relationship between transactional/transformational leadership qualities and moral development within a population of higher education students at a Protestant, Christian, liberal arts college. This study considered…

Both philosophical tendencies and personality types have potential importance for questions in the area of moral development. This paper explores whether there is any correlation between the two. Both are ways of trying to understand people and their behavior. An inventory of 40 Likert-scale items, the Ross-Barger Philosophy Inventory (C. Ross and…

The relationship between moral judgment and religious knowledge was investigated, with an analysis of the impact of academic skill on both domains. Fifty-six Bible college seniors completed measures of moral judgment (Defining Issues Test), Bible knowledge (Standardized Bible Content Test), and academic skill (Academic Profile). Results indicate…

Possible differential relations between social sensitivity and perspective taking and prohibitive and prosocial moral reasoning were assessed for males and females. The levels of principled or internalized reasoning in these content areas were compared. (Author/GK)

Investigates the relationship between moral reasoning and instructional preference in a cross-cultural setting. Questions whether the kind of schooling as well as the amount of schooling correlate with levels of moral reasoning. Finds significant correlations. Contends that the importance of this study lies in its use to facilitate the adaptation…

The Defining Issues Test (DIT) has been subjected to construct validation in a number of studies relating it to the development of moral judgment and to measures of cognitive development and political attitudes. The DIT has been found to have significant positive correlations with the Comprehension of Social-Moral Concepts Test for a variety of…

Six papers, originally presented in different form at the 1977 Convention of the Society for Research in Child Development, highlight approximately 100 studies that have used the Defining Issues Test (DIT) of moral judgment. The DIT's standardized format and objective scoring makes comparisons possible among studies, and this body of research…