Five research questions were initially formulated for and investigated through the conduct of this study. Subsequently, a sixth research question was formulated and investigated in response to the addition of a female control group to the research sample. The initial five research questions were investigated through the use of data collected from 524 male subjects grouped according career field correction officer, police officer, deputy sheriff, student, or clerk. The sixth research question was investigated through the use of data collected from 150 male corrections officers and 37 female corrections officers. The results of the research performed are presented separately with respect to each research question.
Moral Development, Demographic Variables, and Law Enforcement Career Field
Research question number one investigated potential relationships between moral development and selected demographic factors, as well as any moderating effects on such relationships associated with one of the law enforcement career fields included in the research framework for this study with respect to male law enforcement officers. It was hypothesized that moral development would not be found to be significantly associated with age, formal educational attainment, or socioeconomic status. Moral development was equated with a subject's standard score on the Defining Issues Test (DIT).
For the sample of 524 males subjects, standard DIT scores were not found to be associated to a statistically significant extend with subject age (t = .679, p .497). Subject education was found to be related to a statistically significant extent with standard DIT scores for the sample of 524 male subjects (t = 19.153, p<.001). As the quantitative relationship between subject age and standard DIT score is positive, it may be stated that the level of moral development rises as a subject's age rises. Subject socioeconomic status also was found to be relate...