Abstract

Sexual and physical relationship violence are prevalent public health concerns on college campuses. Bystander training programs have recently been introduced as a means to prevent or intervene upon such violence, and generally lead to increases in prosocial bystander behavior. However, little is known about the consequences of engaging in prosocial bystander behavior. The General Outcomes of Bystander Action Scale (GOBAS) has been proposed to examine such consequences, and preliminary evidence points to some validity of this scale. The current research aims to add upon this research by replicating the factor structure of the GOBAS and providing evidence of criterion validity. In Study 1, we utilized a sample of 730 undergraduate students to perform a confirmatory factor analysis on the GOBAS. Although we were able to replicate the original factor structure, we could only do so when items on this measure were dichotomized. In Study 2, we utilized a subsample of our original sample (N = 495) to examine the criterion validity of the GOBAS. Results broadly confirm that the GOBAS predicts future bystander behavior, with important difference in this relation emerging as a function of moral courage. These findings point to the construct and criterion validity of the GOBAS and highlight the need to include these consequences in the study of prosocial bystander behavior.

Degree Date

Summer 8-4-2021

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Ernest N. Jouriles

Second Advisor

Renee McDonald

Third Advisor

David Rosenfield

Fourth Advisor

Victoria L. Banyard

Number of Pages

71

Format

.pdf

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License

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