Adaptation of the Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in School Scale into Turkish: A validity and reliability study

The aim of this study is to adapt the Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in School Scale (PABSS-SCHOOL) into Turkish and provide evidence regarding the validity and reliability characteristics of the scale. The translation-back translation method was used in the study. Subsequently, the Turkish version was subjected to a pilot study with a sample of 43 participants. Following the pilot application and analyses, the final version of the scale was determined and applied to the main study group. A total of 488 data have been collected in the study. To identify outliers in the data, z-scores were examined, and data from 32 participants with z-scores outside the range of ±3.29 were excluded from the analysis. Univariate skewness coefficients ranged from -1.06 to 1.20, and kurtosis coefficients ranged from -0.76 to 1.40. Since the skewness and kurtosis coefficients were within the acceptable range of -2 to +2, the assumption of univariate normality was met (George & Mallery, 2010). As a result of this process, the study group consisted of a total of 456 university student athletes with an average age of 21.36 ± 2.68 and an average sport age of 7.02 ± 3.19, including 257 females and 199 males, participating in various sports disciplines. Data were collected using a demographic information form created by the researcher, the " Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in School Scale," the " Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in Sport Scale," and the " Attitudes to Moral Decision-Making in Youth Sport Questionnaire." To test the structural validity of the scale, both 2-factor and 4-factor models were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using the DWLS method in the R program with the lavaan package. The resulting fit indices for both the 2-factor model (χ²/sd = 1.343; CFI = .989; TLI = .987; RMSEA = .027; SRMR = .054) and the 4-factor model (χ²/sd = 1.276; CFI = .991; TLI = .990; RMSEA = .025; SRMR = .051) were found to be at acceptable levels (Kline, 2023). Factor loadings ranged from 0.407 to 0.749, and all items were statistically significant (p < .001). The internal consistency reliability of the scale was assessed based on Cronbach's alpha coefficients. In the 2-factor model, the prosocial subscales had an α = .80, while the antisocial subscales had an α = .90. In the 4-factor model, the prosocial dimension for teammate/student was α = .69, for opponent/student was α = .73, for antisocial behavior toward teammate/student was α = .77, and for antisocial behavior toward opponent/student was α = .85. Correlation analyses conducted to examine convergent and discriminant validity revealed that the prosocial/antisocial subscales in the school context showed meaningful relationships with the corresponding subscales in sports, as expected. In conclusion, the Turkish version of the " Prosocial and Antisocial Behaviors in School Scale" met both structural validity and internal consistency reliability criteria, and it was determined to be a reliable tool that can be used in educational programs, counseling services, and future research. Keywords: Prosocial behavior, Antisocial behavior, Scale adaptation, Validity, Reliability.