Validity and reliability of the Lithuanian version of Prosocial Tendencies Measure-Revised (PTMR)

Background. The study was carried out with the aim to examine the construct validity and reliability of a Prosocial Tendencies Measure-Revised (PTM-R) (Carlo, Hausmann, Christiansen, & Randall, 2003). Methods. The study process was done following four stages. In stage 1,984 adolescents between ages of 13 to 16 years (M age=14.9, SD=0.97; 50.3% girls) completed a translated version of the scale. In this stage Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) was carried out in order to measure the structure of the PTM-R. In stage 2,757 adolescents between ages of 13 to 16 years (M age=14.24, SD=.81; 51.78% girls) completed the questionnaire and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) was made. In stage 3, validity of the PTM-R was investigated. In stage 4, reliability of the measure was tested by evaluating Cronbach's alpha values. Results. Exploratory Factor analysis of the PTM-R revealed four-factor solutions. A six-factor solution as in original measure was not obtained. Confirmatory factor analysis confirms four-factor structure of PTM-R and supports the multidimensional definition of prosocial behaviour. Three types of prosocial behaviour as anonymity, altruism, and public prosocial behaviour was the same as in the original measure. Other three types of prosocial behaviour emerged as one factor and were entitled as help in emergency. Correlation analyses between prosocial behaviour and different types of aggression showed good level of discriminant validity. Coefficient alpha was used to estimate of reliability based on the internal consistency among items. Alpha coefficients were .85 for help in emergency, .71 for anonymous prosocial behaviour, .68 for altruistic behaviour, and .59 for public prosocial behaviour. Conclusions. In conclusion, the four-factor structure of PTM-R was obtained. Results showed that the adapted measure was valid and reliable for Lithuanian adolescents aged between 13 and 16. Contradiction to the original measure structure and future research directions are discussed