The moral disengagement in sport scale – short

A scale has recently been developed to measure moral disengagement in sport (Boardley & Kavussanu, 2007). It consists of 32 items that measure the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement proposed by Bandura (1991). In the present study, we aimed to: (a) examine whether a subset of these items could form a short version of the scale; (b) provide evidence for the construct validity of the short version; and (c) test its measurement invariance across sex and sport type. A total of 992 football, rugby, hockey, basketball, and netball players from three different samples completed the long version of the scale. Data analyses indicated that the short version of the scale consisted of eight items and had high internal consistency. Construct validity of the scale was evidenced via correlations with sport moral disengagement and prosocial and antisocial behaviour. Multisample confirmatory factor analyses established measurement invariance across sex and partial measurement invariance across four team sports. In conclusion, the short version of the scale is a reliable and valid measure of moral disengagement in sport.