Missionary Kids’ Value Scales

1. Abstract

The Missionary Kids’ Value Scales (MKVS) is an extensive multidimensional assessment battery developed by Larry W. Sharp (1988, 1990) designed to operationalize and evaluate the complex religious, ideological, and socio-developmental trajectories of adult children of Christian missionaries—historically termed missionary kids (MKs) or missionary-rooted Third Culture Kids (TCKs). Developed and psychometrically standardized on a cohort of 533 adult offspring of evangelical missionaries in Brazil, the battery comprises 18 distinct scales encompassing 88 validated items (distilled through exploratory factor analytic procedures from an original pool of 171 items). The battery conceptually bifurcates into two broad structural domains: core value scales (7 subscales) and contextual socialization scales (11 subscales).

The core value dimensions evaluate personal commitments to evangelical doctrine and behavior (Religiosity), theological adherence to conservative Protestant tenets (Religious Orthodoxy), behavioral willingness to engage in transcultural mission endeavors (Religious Action), systemic and intercultural pluralism (Attitudinal Worldmindedness), attitudes toward supranational systems and nationalistic boundaries (World Systems), personal willingness to form intimate cross-cultural and interethnic social bonds (Social Distance), and philanthropic behaviors toward marginalized populations (Justice Commitment). The contextual scales assess developmental ecology across familial, academic, peer, and host-national settings (e.g., Cross-Cultural Involvement as Youth, Religious Interaction in the Home, School Involvement). When combined, the Religiosity and Worldmindedness dimensions operationalize the missiological construct of “World Christianity.”

Psychometrically, individual subscales demonstrate varied internal consistency estimates, with Cronbach’s coefficient alpha coefficients ranging from acceptable to exceptional on core scales such as Religiosity (α = .93), Social Distance (α = .93), Religious Orthodoxy (α = .86), and Religious Action (α = .81), alongside more modest reliabilities on secondary contextual indices. Factor analytic findings utilizing principal axis factoring with iterations established unifactorial integrity for the individual subscales, retaining items with loadings from .38 to .89. The MKVS stands as an important, comprehensive psychometric battery for cross-cultural developmental psychology, the sociology of religion, and missiological studies.

2. Keywords

Missionary Kids’ Value Scales, MKVS, Third Culture Kids, Religiosity, Worldmindedness, Social Distance, Cross-Cultural Socialization, Missionary Children, Religious Orthodoxy, Justice Commitment, Missiology, Cross-Cultural Psychology

3. Authors

The Missionary Kids’ Value Scales was developed and standardized by Larry W. Sharp, Ph.D.

• Author: Larry W. Sharp, Ph.D.
• Institutional Affiliation during Development: Department of Educational Specialties / Educational Policy and Administrative Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• Primary Historical Context: Research conducted under doctoral supervision at the University of Calgary (1987–1988), examining the socio-religious patterns and developmental mechanisms shaping North American and international missionary youth reared within the sociocultural landscape of Brazil.
• Subsequent Applications: Extended within evangelical missiological scholarship and Christian educational administration exploring the formation of “World Christians” through international and MK-specific educational institutions.

4. Purpose

The primary purpose of the Missionary Kids’ Value Scales (MKVS) is to provide an empirical, multidimensional metric capable of capturing the specialized developmental, ideological, and cross-cultural outcomes of individuals raised abroad by missionary parents. For decades, missiologists, international educators, and family sociologists debated the long-term impact of missionary upbringing. Observers frequently posited contradictory hypotheses: some argued that MKs develop an enlightened, globally inclusive worldview characterized by low ethnocentrism, while others suggested that fundamentalist or conservative enclaves within missionary compounds and boarding schools foster defensive parochialism, psychological alienation, or cultural marginalization.

To resolve these competing perspectives with psychometric rigor, Sharp (1988, 1990) designed the MKVS to survey both the interior value commitments of adult MKs and the developmental environments in which those values were nurtured. The battery answers key theoretical and practical questions, including: To what degree do missionary children internalize the religious orthodoxy and behavioral commitments of their parents? How does extensive immersion in a host culture influence an individual’s tolerance, social distance, and systemic view of world societies? What institutional and familial environments reliably cultivate individuals who balance orthodox theological commitment with an open, non-ethnocentric global perspective?

In research contexts, the MKVS provides an empirical foundation for investigating cross-cultural human development, the transgenerational transmission of religious values, and the acculturation dynamics unique to third-culture populations. Unlike conventional instruments that measure religiosity or intercultural sensitivity in isolation, the MKVS explicitly links social-relational developmental context (e.g., interaction with national peers, quality of relationships with expatriate teachers, parental warmth and religious discourse in the home) directly to adult outcome orientations (such as commitment to systemic justice, absence of racial/ethnic social distance, and openness to world systems).

In clinical, educational, and organizational applications, the MKVS serves as an evaluative framework for mission sending agencies, pastoral counselors, and international Christian school administrators. Mission organizations frequently encounter challenges in assessing candidate suitability for long-term overseas service among adult MKs contemplating a return to cross-cultural work. By evaluating dimensions such as Religious Action, Attitudinal Worldmindedness, and Cross-Cultural Involvement as Youth, the MKVS offers diagnostic insights into how effectively an individual navigates the tensions between their heritage culture, host culture, and internal theological convictions.

5. Psychological Construct

The MKVS does not measure a single homogeneous construct; rather, it operationalizes a multidimensional matrix composed of 18 separate scales divided into 7 core value constructs and 11 contextual developmental scales. Below is an exhaustive structural examination of these operationalized dimensions:

Core Value Constructs

• Religiosity: Evaluates the respondent’s behavioral, emotional, and cognitive dedication to evangelical Christianity. This dimension measures the centrality of faith in everyday decision-making, the personal importance of prayer and Scripture, and self-identification with conservative Christian spiritual practices.
• Religious Orthodoxy: Measures intellectual and theological adherence to the historical doctrinal pillars of orthodox Protestant Christianity. It assesses agreement with traditional tenets, including biblical authority, the divinity and resurrection of Jesus Christ, salvation through grace, and classical Christian eschatology.
• Religious Action: Assesses active behavioral mobilization and prospective intentionality regarding cross-cultural or international missionary service. It operationalizes the respondent’s willingness to commit to short-term or indefinite vocational mission work abroad.
• Attitudinal Worldmindedness: Measures cognitive attitudes and psychological dispositions demonstrating tolerance, acceptance, and appreciation of individuals belonging to disparate cultural, national, and ideological frameworks. High scores reflect an absence of ethnocentrism and a recognition of shared human dignity across cultural boundaries.
• World Systems: Assesses the respondent’s conceptualization and acceptance of non-nationalistic, supranational perspectives regarding global governance, economics, and international interdependence. It evaluates whether an individual views national identity through an absolute patriotic lens or through a globally integrated system.
• Social Distance: Adapted from the classic sociological paradigm of the Bogardus Social Distance Scale, this dimension assesses an individual’s willingness to engage in varying degrees of social intimacy with members of diverse ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic groups, ranging from casual neighborhood contact to close personal friendship and intermarriage.
• Justice Commitment: Measures a person’s tangible, behavioral response to poverty, socioeconomic disenfranchisement, and marginalized populations. Rather than measuring passive humanitarian sentiment, it is operationalized as the self-reported frequency of active interventions, charitable contributions, and advocacy performed over the preceding 12 months.

Contextual and Socialization Scales

• Religious Interaction as Youth: Evaluates the nature, frequency, and personal salience of religious engagement during the respondent’s adolescent peer-group interactions.
• Religious Interaction at School: Assesses the degree to which religious instruction, chapel services, and spiritual reinforcement permeated the respondent’s formal academic schooling overseas.
• Religious Interaction in the Home: Measures the structural frequency and emotional resonance of family devotions, scripture reading, parental prayer, and informal theological dialogue within the domestic sphere during formative childhood.
• Cross-Cultural Involvement as Youth: A critical scale measuring the respondent’s behavioral immersion into the host culture (in this case, Brazilian society), evaluating language fluency, national friendships, participation in host-culture traditions, and non-enclave social routines.
• Cross-Cultural Interaction in School: Captures the specific demographic, linguistic, and cultural heterogeneity present within the respondent’s primary or secondary educational institution.
• Leadership: Evaluates formal and informal leadership roles assumed across academic, ecclesiastical, and community contexts during adolescence.
• Justice Interaction as Youth: Measures the extent to which the respondent was directly exposed to social outreach, community service initiatives, and interactions with socioeconomically disadvantaged communities during their developmental years.
• Parent-Child Relationship: Evaluates the perceived warmth, communication quality, emotional support, and conflict resolution dynamics characterizing the relationship between the respondent and their missionary parents.
• Teacher-Student Relationship: Measures the affective quality, perceived mentorship, and personal encouragement provided by expatriate or host-national teachers within the school context.
• School Involvement: Assesses the respondent’s overall behavioral participation in extracurricular, athletic, artistic, and community activities within their educational setting.
• School Rating: Captures the respondent’s retrospective subjective evaluation of the academic rigor, social climate, and spiritual efficacy of the overseas institutions they attended.

6. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical architecture of the MKVS integrates principles from developmental psychology, the sociology of religion, ecological systems theory, and contemporary evangelical missiology. The instrument’s primary theoretical synthesis unites the sociological study of religious commitment with intercultural competence paradigms.

Ecological Systems and Cross-Cultural Socialization

The MKVS is structurally aligned with Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory. Bronfenbrenner posits that human development is shaped through reciprocal interactions within nested environmental systems: the microsystem (family home, classroom), the mesosystem (interrelations between missionary home and missionary boarding school), the exosystem (mission agency policies, parental occupational demands), and the macrosystem (the overarching ideological and theological norms of evangelicalism interacting with the host-national culture). The MKVS explicitly models these contextual layers by including discrete scales that measure home interactions, school dynamics, teacher-student relationships, and immersion within the broader host culture.

Parallel to ecological systems, the instrument draws heavily from Third Culture Kid (TCK) developmental theory, originally formulated by sociologists Ruth Hill Useem and John Useem. According to TCK theory, children who spend a significant portion of their developmental years outside their parents’ passport culture do not simply assimilate into the host culture; rather, they construct an interstitial “third culture” characterized by distinct cognitive, linguistic, and interpersonal adaptations. Sharp operationalized this theory by assessing whether host-culture engagement (Cross-Cultural Involvement as Youth) expanded worldmindedness or created developmental dissonance relative to passport-country values.

Sociology of Religion and Dimensionality of Faith

The measurement of religious values in the MKVS rests directly upon empirical sociological foundations. Rather than treating religious faith as a monolithic, unidimensional construct, Sharp integrated the multidimensional frameworks of Glock and Stark (1965), Fichter (1954), and the empirical replications of King and Hunt (1972, 1975). These sociologists established that religious commitment must be differentiated into ideological (orthodoxy/belief), ritualistic/devotional (prayer/worship), and consequential (behavioral and ethical actions) dimensions.

Furthermore, Sharp incorporated the sociological models of Bibby and Brinkerhoff (1973, 1983) and Brinkerhoff and Mackie (1985), which focus on the intergenerational transmission of conservative religious identities and the phenomena surrounding religious socialization within conservative and evangelical Protestantism. These models explain how rigorous ideological socialization within enclaves can sustain orthodoxy while occasionally conflicting with universalistic social values.

The Missiological Construct of “World Christianity”

A novel theoretical contribution of the MKVS is the empirical operationalization of the missiological construct known as “World Christianity” (or the formation of a “World Christian”). In evangelical missiological literature, a World Christian is defined as an individual who synthesizes two theoretically independent characteristics: an uncompromising commitment to historical, orthodox Christianity alongside a culturally non-ethnocentric, globally inclusive worldview that values cultural diversity and actively engages with international systemic justice.

Sharp integrated the secular psychological construct of Worldmindedness—empirically pioneered by Sampson and Smith (1957)—with validated measures of Christian religiosity. Sampson and Smith defined worldmindedness as an internalization of humanity as a primary reference group, standing in direct contrast to ethnocentrism and hyper-nationalism. By intersecting the Attitudinal Worldmindedness scale with the Religiosity scale, the MKVS established a quantitative framework to examine whether extensive cross-cultural exposure genuinely fosters World Christianity or whether religious orthodoxy correlates inversely with universal tolerance.

7. Validity

The construct, factorial, and content validity of the MKVS were evaluated during its standardization on 533 adult offspring of missionaries in Brazil. The psychometric evidence offers substantial support for the individual scales while highlighting theoretical limitations inherent in heterogeneous composite batteries.

Content and Face Validity

The face validity of the MKVS subscales is exceptionally high. Each item was drawn directly from established sociological and psychological inventories or designed to represent specific developmental experiences unique to international missionary enclaves. Content validity was reinforced by adapting items from established psychometric instruments, including:

• The World-Mindedness Scale of Sampson and Smith (1957) for measuring internationalism and cultural tolerance;
• The empirically validated religiosity batteries of King and Hunt (1972, 1975), Glock and Stark (1965), and Bibby and Brinkerhoff (1973, 1983) for the religious dimensions;
• The International Mobile Student Questionnaire developed by the Institute of International Studies at Michigan State University for capturing contextual mobility and educational dynamics.

Construct and Factorial Validity

To establish construct validity, each scale underwent exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal factoring with iterations. The psychometric criterion required an eigenvalue cutoff of ≥ 1.0 for factor extraction. Items failing to demonstrate robust factor loadings on the primary unifactorial dimension of their respective scale were systematically eliminated. This process reduced the original 171 items to an 88-item battery.

Across the retained scales, the primary extracted factor accounted for 100% of the explained variance in 17 of the 18 scales; for the comprehensive Religiosity scale, the single dominant factor accounted for 92.7% of the variance. Factor loadings for retained individual items were uniformly moderate to high, ranging from .38 to .89. This confirms that within each individual scale, the operationalized construct demonstrates unidimensionality.

Critique of Convergent, Discriminant, and Measurement Validity

Despite robust within-scale unifactorial evidence, several psychometric limitations must be noted:

• Absence of External Criterion Validation: The original investigation did not include formal multi-trait multi-method (MTMM) analyses, nor did it report external convergent validity coefficients with contemporary independent measures (e.g., modern Third Culture Kid adaptability scales, general intercultural sensitivity inventories, or standard social desirability metrics).
• Measurement Disparity and Uneven Weighting: A significant psychometric issue identified in the MKVS is the presence of disparate response formats within individual subscales. For example, the Religious Interaction in the Home subscale combines two 4-point Likert-type items with a single dichotomous (yes/no) item. Calculating an unweighted summative score gives disproportionate mathematical weight to the Likert items, which can distort score distributions and reduce internal consistency.
• Inter-Scale Theoretical Heterogeneity: Because the MKVS was designed as a broad diagnostic survey across 18 distinct constructs rather than a singular latent construct, the battery lacks an overarching, unified structural model. Researchers must treat the subscales as independent modular indices rather than aggregating them into a single global score.

8. Reliability

The internal consistency of the MKVS subscales was estimated using Cronbach’s coefficient alpha (α) based on the standardization sample of 533 participants. The observed reliability coefficients indicate substantial psychometric variation across the 18 scales, clearly delineating between scales suitable for rigorous individual assessment versus those intended primarily for exploratory group-level research.

Core Value Scales Internal Consistency

Contextual Scales Reliability

The majority of the remaining contextual subscales exhibited internal consistency coefficients clustering between .60 and .78, meeting conventional thresholds for group-level exploratory field research. A notable exception was the Religious Interaction in the Home subscale, which demonstrated an alpha coefficient of only .45 (and an eigenvalue of .75 during extraction). This lower reliability likely stemmed from its brief 3-item length, mixed response scaling formats, and ceiling effects among evangelical missionary homes. Investigators using this specific contextual scale are cautioned regarding its elevated measurement error.

Test-Retest Stability

No formal test-retest reliability data, temporal stability coefficients, or longitudinal stability metrics across varying intervals were published in the original investigations by Sharp (1988, 1990). Consequently, the stability of scores over time remains unverified, and the MKVS should be treated as a cross-sectional assessment tool unless local stability testing is conducted.

9. Factor Analysis

The structural composition of the MKVS was evaluated through exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Because the tool was deliberately conceptualized as a broad inventory encompassing disparate domains of the third-culture developmental trajectory, factor analyses were executed on individual subscales rather than through an omnibus, unconstrained exploratory factor model of all 171 initial items.

Methodological Procedures

• Extraction Technique: Principal axis factoring (principal factoring with iterations) was applied to the correlation matrices of the hypothesized item subsets.
• Extraction Criteria: The standard Kaiser-Guttman criterion (retaining factors with eigenvalues ≥ 1.0) was used to guide factor retention. A single exception was made for the contextual scale Religious Interaction in the Home, which yielded an eigenvalue of .75 but was retained on substantive theoretical grounds for exploratory purposes.
• Item Reduction Criterion: Items that failed to demonstrate a primary factor loading of ≥ .35 (or displayed substantial multivariance without a dominant primary loading) were removed. Retained items exhibited empirical factor loadings ranging from .38 to .89.
• Attrition Rate: This extraction and purification process eliminated 83 items from the original 171-item pool, yielding the final 88-item inventory.

Factorial Structure and Explained Variance

The factor analytic results demonstrated unifactorial structures within the separate scales. In 17 of the 18 scales, the primary extracted factor accounted for 100% of the common variance among the retained items. For the core Religiosity scale, the primary factor accounted for 92.7% of the variance. These results confirm that while the MKVS is structurally heterogeneous at the battery level, its individual scales operate as internally unified unidimensional indices.

Subsequent confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) employing modern goodness-of-fit metrics (e.g., RMSEA, CFI, TLI) were not conducted in the original research. Researchers seeking to utilize the MKVS in contemporary studies are encouraged to fit higher-order or multi-trait structural equation models to verify construct invariance across diverse international student and expatriate cohorts.

10. Instrument / Measurement Tool

The MKVS is a structured, paper-and-pencil self-report survey. It is self-administered and requires no specialized clinical qualifications for administration.

Structural Specifications

• Total Item Count: 88 items in the validated post-factor-analytic operational inventory (condensed from the original 171-item experimental version).
• Structure: 18 independent subscales divided into two functional domains:
  • Core Value Constructs (7 scales): Religiosity, Religious Orthodoxy, Religious Action, Attitudinal Worldmindedness, World Systems, Social Distance, Justice Commitment.
  • Contextual Socialization Constructs (11 scales): Religious Interaction as Youth, Religious Interaction at School, Religious Interaction in the Home, Cross-Cultural Involvement as Youth, Cross-Cultural Interaction in School, Leadership, Justice Interaction as Youth, Parent-Child Relationship, Teacher-Student Relationship, School Involvement, School Rating.
• Administration Time: Approximately 30 to 45 minutes for the complete 88-item inventory. Because subscales are scored independently, researchers may selectively administer individual modules (e.g., administering only the 7 Core Value scales takes approximately 15 minutes).
• Target Population: Adult children (ages 17 and older) of Christian missionaries, international expatriates, and missionary-origin Third Culture Kids (TCKs) who spent formative developmental years living abroad.

Response Scales and Formats

The instrument incorporates multiple forced-choice response formats tailored to specific subscale contents:

• 5-Point Agreement Likert Scales: Ranging from 1 = Strongly Disagree to 5 = Strongly Agree (utilized primarily for Religious Orthodoxy, Attitudinal Worldmindedness, and World Systems).
• 4-Point and 5-Point Frequency Likert Scales: Ranging from 1 = Never to 4 or 5 = Very Often (utilized across Justice Commitment, Cross-Cultural Involvement as Youth, and School Involvement).
• Categorical and Certainty Formats: Utilizing anchors such as “Yes, definitely” to “No” (utilized in portions of Religious Action and Contextual Interaction indices).
• Social Distance Continuums: Guttman-type cumulative intimacy ratings ranging from casual social contact to marriage acceptance (utilized in the Social Distance scale).
• Rank Ordering and Dichotomous Items: A limited number of items require yes/no categorical determinations or hierarchical ranking of values.

Scoring Procedures

• Each of the 18 subscales is scored separately; there is no composite global “MKVS score.”
• Items keyed in an anti-normative or ethnocentric direction are reverse-scored prior to summation.
• Scale scores are calculated by summing item responses within each subscale. In subscales characterized by heterogeneous response anchors (e.g., combining 4-point scales with dichotomous items), conversion to standardized z-scores before summation is recommended to prevent disparate item weighting.
• The composite theoretical index of “World Christianity” is derived by combining standardized composite scores on the Religiosity and Attitudinal Worldmindedness scales.

11. Permissions & Fee and Test Year

• Year of Initial Formulation: 1987–1988 (Doctoral Dissertation, University of Calgary).
• Year of Formal Peer-Reviewed Publication: 1990 (Journal of Psychology and Theology).
• Copyright and Proprietary Status: The conceptual battery and its specialized operational scales were developed by Dr. Larry W. Sharp and documented in his 1987/1988 doctoral dissertation and 1990 journal publication. The copyright for the academic publication is held by the Journal of Psychology and Theology (currently published by SAGE Publications) and the author.
• Permissions and Access: The scale was established for academic, missiological, and developmental field research. The complete 88-item inventory, scoring keys, and contextual correlation matrices reside in the author’s doctoral dissertation archival holdings (University of Calgary / ProQuest UMI Dissertation Publishing).
• Fee Structure: In accordance with standard academic research conventions, the instrument may be utilized for non-commercial scholarly research, educational program evaluation, and doctoral dissertations, subject to appropriate citation and adherence to institutional permissions. Commercial applications require written authorization from the copyright holders.

12. References

Bibby, R. W., & Brinkerhoff, M. B. (1973). The circulation of the saints: A study of people who join conservative churches. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 12(3), 273–283. https://doi.org/10.2307/1384432

Bibby, R. W., & Brinkerhoff, M. B. (1983). Circulation of the saints revisited: A longitudinal look at conservative church growth. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 22(3), 253–262. https://doi.org/10.2307/1385419

Brinkerhoff, M. B., & Mackie, M. (1985). Religion and gender: A comparison of Canadian and American student attitudes. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 47(2), 415–429. https://doi.org/10.2307/352140

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.

Fichter, J. H. (1954). Social relations in the urban parish. University of Chicago Press.

Glock, C. Y., & Stark, R. (1965). Religion and society in tension. Rand McNally.

King, M. B., & Hunt, R. A. (1972). Measuring the religious variable: Replication. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 11(3), 240–251. https://doi.org/10.2307/1384497

King, M. B., & Hunt, R. A. (1975). Measuring the religious variable: National replication. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14(1), 13–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/1384792

Sampson, D. L., & Smith, H. P. (1957). A scale to measure world-minded attitudes. The Journal of Social Psychology, 45(1), 99–106. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.1957.9921944

Sharp, L. W. (1988). Patterns of religiosity, world mindedness, and commitment to justice issues for Brazil-experienced missionary children (Doctoral dissertation, University of Calgary, 1987). Dissertation Abstracts International, 49(02), 226A.

Sharp, L. W. (1990). How missionary children become world Christians: The role of the MK school and the local culture. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 18(1), 66–74. https://doi.org/10.1177/009164719001800108

13. Items of the Scale