Character Education and the Internalization of Local Wisdom as Predictors of Students’ Moral Knowing and Bystander Behavior in the Prevention of Sexual Violence

Preventing sexual violence on college campuses requires strengthening students’ moral knowledge and capacity to act as bystanders through a contextual, values-based educational approach. This study aims to analyze the role of character education and the internalization of local wisdom in predicting students’ moral knowing and bystander behavior in the prevention of sexual violence. The study employs a quantitative approach with a correlational-predictive design. The research sample consisted of 100 Elementary School Teacher Education students at Muhammadiyah University of Mataram, with 35 males and 65 females. The research instrument used a five-point Likert scale questionnaire consisting of 28 questions, seven questions for each variable: character education, internalization of local wisdom, moral knowing, and bystander behavior. Data analysis was conducted using descriptive statistics, multivariate tests, and univariate tests to identify predictive relationships among the variables. The results indicate that, in a multivariate analysis, character education is significantly associated with moral knowing and bystander behavior (F = 3.165; p = 0.047; partial η² = 0.062), while the internalization of local wisdom shows a stronger multivariate relationship (F = 35.540; p < 0.001; partial η² = 0.425). Univariately, the models of character education and the internalization of local wisdom were significant predictors of moral knowing (F = 107.458; p < 0.001; partial η² = 0.689) and bystander behavior (F = 26.249; p < 0.001; partial η² = 0.351). Thus, character education and the internalization of local wisdom are predictively associated with moral knowing and bystander behavior, with the internalization of local wisdom showing a larger partial effect size. These findings imply the need to integrate character education and local wisdom into strategies for preventing sexual violence in higher education through contextual learning and the cultivation of values.