Twenty cross-cultural studies on moral judgment development using
the Defining Issues Test (DIT) were reviewed with respect to cross-
cultural validity, age/education trends, gender difference correlations
with other psychological factors, religion, urban-rural, delinquency,
and familial/societal factors. By and large, results indicate that the DIT
has similar psychometric properties (factor structure, internal consis
tency, and reliability) and construct validity in non-American cultures.
However, the rate of development and the strength of relationships
with other variables were found to differ across cultures. It is suggested
that fine-grained research is needed to explain (rather than describe)
the differences and similarities in terms of cultural and societal
causation.
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