Moral foundations of first responders

This study compared moral foundation endorsements between first responders (FR; n = 81) and control participants (C; n = 180) using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire–2. The objective of this study was to determine whether first responders have distinct moral foundation profiles compared to matched controls, with a specific focus on the Care and Authority foundations. We assessed six foundations on 1-to-5 Likert scales. In the primary outcomes, first responders scored significantly lower than controls on Care (g = 0.32, Holm p = .039; positive g indicates higher scores in C than FR), contrary to our hypothesis that they would score higher. We observed no difference for Authority, the other primary outcome. Exploratory analyses of Equality, Proportionality, Loyalty, and Purity showed no significant group differences after a false discovery rate correction. Overall, the moral foundation profiles of first responders are largely similar to those of controls, with only a modest divergence on Care that merits replication. Taken together, the results suggest minimal influence of either self-selection or occupational culture on first responders’ moral foundations.