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Adaptation and Evidence of Validity of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) to the Brazilian Context

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Abstract

Prosocial behavior is usually defined as a set of actions aimed to benefit others. This study aims at presenting validity and reliability evidence for the Brazilian version of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM). The study was conducted with 555 students (Mage= 23,38; SD = 6,24) from public and private universities in southeastern Brazil, 69% being female. The scale showed good evidence of content validity. The internal 6-factor structure was tested by Confirmatory Factor Analysis and showed acceptable goodness-of-fit indices. The Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MCFCA) accepted configural, metric and scalar invariance, indicating that the PTM is an equivalent measure for men and women of different age groups. No unexpected response patterns to the instrument’s items were found. Evidence of convergent validity was observed with the Prosociality Measurement Scale (EMPA). The reliability indices obtained indicated adequate internal consistency of the instrument. The adapted scale shows evidence of reliability and validity, making it suitable for use in the Brazilian context.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of psychology of learning, development and personality, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luciana Maria Caetano, Kênia Eliber Vieira, Rodney Querino Ferreira da Costa & Beatriz Oliveira

  2. Centro Universitário das Faculdades Associadas de Ensino FAE, São João da Boa Vista, Brazil

    Betânia Alves Veiga Dell’Agli

  3. University of California, School of Education, Irvine, USA

    Gustavo Carlo

  4. Institute of Psychology, Universitiy of São Paulo, 1721 Ave Professor Melo de Moraes, São Paulo, 05508030, Brazil

    Luciana Maria Caetano

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  1. Luciana Maria Caetano
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  2. Kênia Eliber Vieira
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  4. Beatriz Oliveira
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Correspondence to Luciana Maria Caetano.

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Declarations and Statements

  1. 1

    Partial financial support was received from FAPESP (Funda??o de Amparo ? pesquisa do Estado de S?o Paulo) - 2017/06334-9, that was a regular research project of Luciana Maria Caetano and Betania Alves Veiga Dell`Agli, and USP (PUB Programa Unificado de Bolsas da Universidade de S?o Paulo) ? 2779 (Bolsa de Inicia??o Cient?fica de Beatriz Oliveira).

  2. 2

    The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.

  3. 3

    The research was approved by the Committee on Ethics in Research in Human Beings of the Institute of Psychology of the University of S?o Paulo (CEPH-IPUSP), authorization number 44756621.1.0000.5561. The research instruments and the Informed Consent Form (ICF) were prepared on the Google Forms, and sent via social media (WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram) and e-mail of university students.

  4. 4

    All authors whose names appear on the submission

    1. 1)

      made substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data; or the creation of new software used in the work;

    2. 2)

      drafted the work or revised it critically for important intellectual content;

    3. 3)

      approved the version to be published; and

    4. 4)

      agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

  5. 5

    All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection by Beatriz Oliveira and Rodney da Costa, analysis were performed by K?nia Eliber Vieira and were reviewed by Gustavo Carlo. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Luciana Maria Caetano, the Brazilian version of manuscript was reviewed by Bet?nia Dell`Agli, the English version of manuscript was reviewed by Gustavo Carlo and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Caetano, L.M., Vieira, K.E., da Costa, R.Q.F. et al. Adaptation and Evidence of Validity of the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) to the Brazilian Context. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 45, 346–358 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-023-10035-x

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