Adaptation of the Moral Identity Questionnaire on the Russian Sample

Abstract

The relevance of the study is determined by the activation of malevolent creativity and the consequences of its implementation in behavior in the form of information wars, fraud and terrorism against the background of a special military operation in Ukraine. In a threatening socio-political context, the role of morality as a regulator of behavior is important. Foreign studies show that the relationship between morality and behavior is not unambiguous, and the research results contradict each other. In many ways, such discrepancies are associated with the use of tools that are not suitable for identifying the connection of morality with behavior. The article presents the results of adaptation of the Russian version of the questionnaire "Moral Identity" (K. Aquino, A. Reed). The advantage of this questionnaire is that the authors used it to show the connection between the importance for a person of moral identity and moral behavior in everyday life. The two-factor structure of the translated version corresponds to the original version and includes the following sections: "Internalization" and "Symbolization". The stability of the factor structure of the questionnaire was confirmed in a sample of young people (N=303, cf. age 19, SD = 2.03; 144 of them were girls). With the help of the questionnaire "Justice-Care" (V.S.Molchanov) and the scale of self-respect (M.Rosenberg) conducted an assessment of the constructive and disqualified validity (respectively). The results obtained are consistent with the results of the authors of the original version and serve as confirmation of the difference between the construct of moral identity from those constructs with which discriminant and constructive validity was checked. The analysis of retest reliability (N=80) revealed modest but significant correlations, which is consistent with the position of the authors of the original version about the instability and situativeness of moral identity. Additional studies of constructive validity using aggression questionnaires (BRAQ-24), Conscientiousness and Cooperation scales ("NEO-FFI"), tolerance scales as traits (G.U.Soldatova et al.) on the sample (N=158) revealed positive correlations of scales with the traits of the Big Five and negative associations with aggression. Hypotheses are formulated for further research, according to which the stability of moral identity in different contexts can be determined by the traits of the Big Five and tolerance. According to the results of the adaptation, the translated version of the questionnaire can be used for research purposes and in assessing, monitoring and correcting the moral and psychological state of older adolescents and young people.