A moral development scale (Defining Issues Test) administered to students as entering freshmen and 4 years later indicated a significant decrease in conventional reasoning and an increase in principled reasoning. (Author)

This study was designed to help determine whether there are gender differences in the psychological and moral development of traditional-age college students. Two hundred thirty-three first-year and graduating students were given the Student Development Task and Lifestyle Inventory (SDTLI) and the Defining Issues Test (DIT) to determine whether…

Using the Defining Issues Test, the moral reasoning of 95 Texas A&M University medical students was measured at the beginning of their first semester, after a required first-semester medical ethics course, and after their fourth year. Results show significantly increased moral reasoning at the second and third test administrations, with women…

Among Koreans tested on Rest's Defining Issues Test, females, urban people, and older subjects showed significantly more responses demonstrating principled morality than did males, rural people, and younger subjects. Comparisons with American results showed greater age differences in stages of moral development among Americans. Both groups showed…

This paper reviews 20 cross-cultural studies conducted with the Defining Issues Test (DIT). All or part of the samples in the studies were non-Americans who had not been a part of the populations presented in the DIT manual. The studies were aimed at the comparison of moral reasoning structure and development across cultures. Several aspects of…

Presents a study in which students from Kuwait were given Rest's Defining Issues Test (DIT) to measure the development of moral judgment skills. Explains that results were compared with scales measuring student perception of parental behavior. Concludes that the DIT may not be a valid test for development of moral judgment in an Arab culture. (DK)