Brief virtue scale shows promise in Argentine university students

A brief questionnaire built around prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance showed promising internal structure and consistency in two studies involving 1,044 university students in Argentina. The Virtuous Moral Character Scale (VMCS) was developed and validated within the Aristotelian–Thomistic framework of the four cardinal virtues, with the researchers reporting evidence that it may serve as a general measure of virtuous moral character. The researchers conducted exploratory and confirmatory analyses of data from the student population.

Exploratory analyses supported a four-factor structure, and the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin measure was .88. Internal consistency was adequate across the four dimensions, with omega coefficients ranging from .68 to .77. A confirmatory bifactor analysis showed excellent model fit: the comparative fit index and Tucker–Lewis index were both .999, while the root mean square error of approximation was .005 and the standardized root mean square residual was .029.

The model also identified a general factor that accounted for a substantial proportion of the variance common to the items. Its estimated common variance was .58, and its proportional unique variance was .79. Hierarchical omega for the total score was .76, showing that reliable variance in the overall score was attributable to the general factor.

The specific virtue factors retained more limited reliable variance, with hierarchical-specific omega values of .25–.36. Associations with measures of honesty, prudence and grit supported convergent validity for the VMCS. Together, the findings provide promising initial evidence for the internal structure and internal consistency of the scale in Argentine university students.

Its general factor accounted for a substantial share of the items’ common variance, but the specific factors contributed only limited reliable variance in these analyses. Because the evidence comes from a single-country university sample, the findings remain limited in scope and require replication in other populations before the scale’s broader validity can be assessed.

Subject of Research: Development and validation of a four-virtue moral character scale in Argentine university students

Article Title: Assessing moral virtues: development and validation of the Virtuous Moral Character Scale (VMCS)

Article References: Vanney, C. E., & Mesurado, B. (2026). Assessing moral virtues: development and validation of the Virtuous Moral Character Scale (VMCS). BMC Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-026-05416-2

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1186/s40359-026-05416-2

Keywords: moral character, psychometrics, scale validation, university students, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, Assessing, moral, virtues, development