Cross-Cultural Evidence of Multidimensional Prosocial Behaviors: An Examination of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM)

MEREDITH MCGINLEY; DEANNA OPAL; MARÍA CRISTINA RICHAUD; BELÉN MESURADO

Prosocial development: A multidimensional approach

Oxford University Press

Lugar: New York; Año: 2015; p. 258 - 278

The Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM; Carlo& Randall, 2002) uses Likert-type scale items to assess one?s propensity for engaging in six different types of prosocial behaviors (defined by motive or situation): altruistic, public, emotional, dire, anonymous, and compliant prosocial tendencies. This chapter first summarizes the accumulation of psychometric evidence which supports the multidimensionality of the PTM, followed by a review of corroborating evidence reported with participants belonging to other ethnicor non-English speaking cultural groups. Because gaps remain in the literature regarding cross-cultural psychometric evidence, the chapter also reports new findings validating use ofthe PTM for comparable samples ofEuropean American (M age = 16.70 years, 69%girls) and Argentinean (M age = 16.32, 46% girls) adolescents. A series of Confirmatory Factor Analyses found support for the six-dimensional factor structure of the PTM for both groups of adolescents when compared with more parsimonious factor solutions. The six types of prosocial behaviors were related to additional constructs in culturally relevant ways. Although a plethora of evidence supporting the factor structure, validity, and reliability of the PTMexists, additional studies are needed to fully support the cross-cultural use of this measure and establish the uniformity of these factors across time.