The Development of a Measure of Prosocial Behaviors for Late Adolescents

The correlates and structure of prosocial behaviors in late adolescents were examined using a newly constructed, multidimensional measure. In Study 1, 249 college students (145 women; M age = 19.9 years) were administered the Prosocial Tendencies Measure (PTM) which assesses 6 types of prosocial behaviors: altruistic, compliant, emotional, dire, public, and anonymous. Measures of sympathy, perspective taking, personal distress, social desirability, global prosocial behaviors, social responsibility, ascription of responsibility, vocabulary skills, and prosocial moral reasoning were also completed. Test-retest reliability and further validity of the PTM were demonstrated in Study 2 with a sample of 40 college students (28 women; M age = 22.9 years). Results from both studies yielded evidence of adequate reliability and validity of the PTM and support the notion of differentiated forms of helping.