Confirmatory factor analysis of the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale and its relationship with antisocial and delinquent behavior among justice-involved youth.

Abstract

This study analyzed the factor solutions of the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement Scale (MMDS) and their relationship with antisocial and delinquent behaviors in 844 justice-involved youth (M = 17.82 years, SD = 1.94) undergoing legal proceedings in the Colombian Juvenile Criminal Responsibility System. Participants were administered a validated Colombian version of the moral disengagement scale. Results showed that the one-, three-, four-, and eight-factor models had good goodness-of-fit indicators and acceptable internal consistency indices. However, the eight- factor structure demonstrated a superior fit to the others when the fit indices of the proposed structural models were compared. The eight-factor structure also demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and direct correlations between the factors and antisocial and criminal behaviors. These findings support that the scale is a reliable and valid measure of moral disengagement in justice-involved youth in the Colombian context.