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This study explored the role of context in moral judgement measurement by addressing a recent contention that moral dilemmas are not essential for the successful assessment of moral judgement. We evaluated a new instrument, the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form (SRM-SF), that uses contextually open-ended stimuli instead of moral dilemmas. SRM-SF data were collected from 509 male and female subjects, 8 to 81 years of age, including 94 delinquent males. The SRM-SF evidenced acceptable levels of reliability (inter-rater, test-retest, internal consistency) and validity (criterion-related and construct-related). For example, the SRM-SF demonstrated acceptable concurrent validity with the Moral Judgement Interview and discriminated delinquents as developmentally delayed in moral judgement. The SRM-SF was found to be procedurally efficient in terms of group administrability, completion time, self-training for scoring, and scoring. The factor structure of moral judgement as elicited by the SRM-SF was found to be unidimensional. Also, females were found to be more advanced in moral judgement than males in early adolescence, but the difference disappeared in late adolescence and adulthood.

The Sociomoral Reflection Objective Measure—Short Form—derived from the Sociomoral Reflection Objective Measure, a group-administered recognition measure of Kohlbergian moral reasoning—was psychometrically evaluated for use with 11th graders, juvenile delinquents, and 6th graders. The short form evidenced acceptable reliability and validity for use with 11th graders. Psychometric properties were comparable to those reported for the full scale. Since the short form takes 20 min. less to administer and is quicker to score, the short form was recommended for use with 11th graders in large-scale research. Results for both 6th graders and juvenile delinquents showed that the short form, like the full scale, does not have acceptable reliability and validity for these groups. Reliability and validity of the short form for other adolescent groups must be assessed.