The Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument- Bully/Target: Measurement Invariance Across Gender,Age,and Clinical Status

Abstract

Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument–Bully/Target (APRI-BT) is a multidimensional scale designed to assess bullying involvement both as target and perpetrator. Although existing research has shown that the APRI-BT satisfies the assumption of measurement invariance across age and gender, these findings come from western individualistic countries (e.g., Australia). This study aimed to investigate the factorial structure and measurement invariance across age, gender, and clinical status in a sample of Romanian youths. Participants were 1,024 adolescents, 10 to 18 years, recruited from both community and clinical setting. Our results confirmed a six first-order factor structure and two second-order factors (Bully including Bullying Physical, Bullying Verbal, Bullying Social and Victimization including Physical Victimization, Verbal Victimization, Social Victimization). In addition, measurement invariance across age, gender, and clinical status was demonstrated. This study identifies APRI-BT as an instrument with solid psychometric proprieties for measuring bullying and victimization among preadolescents and adolescents.

Keywords

bullying victimization measurement invariance adolescents APRI-BT

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Ademola

S. T.

Ayodele

O. A.

Bankole

A. F.

(2018). Differential effectiveness of cognitive self instruction and contigency management on peer victimization of secondary students in Nigeria. Implication to school. Management and counselling. Journal of Education, Society and Behavioural Science, 27(1), 1–9.

Balan

Dobrean

Balazsi

(2018). Indirect effects of parental and peer attachment on bullying and victimization among adolescents: The role of negative automatic thoughts. Aggressive Behavior, 44(6), 561–570.

Baldry

A. C.

(2004). The impact of direct and indirect bullying on the mental and physical health of Italian youngsters. Aggressive Behavior, 30, 343–355.

Bentler

P. M.

(1990). Comparative fit indexes in structural models. Psychological Bulletin, 107, 238–246.

Byrne

B. M.

(2012). Multivariate applications series. Structural equation modeling with Mplus: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

Chan

J. H. F.

Myron

R. R.

Crawshaw

C. M.

(2005). The efficacy of non-anonymous measures of bullying. School Psychology International, 26, 443–458.

Chen

F.F.

(2007). Sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 14, 464–504.

Chen

F. F.

Sousa

K. H.

West

(2005). Testing measurement invariance of second-order factor models. Structural Equation Modeling, 12(3), 471–492.

Cheung

G. W.

Rensvold

R. B.

(2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9, 233–255.

10.

Copeland

W. E.

Wolke

Angold

Costello

E. J.

(2013). Adult psychiatric outcomes of bullying and being bullied by peers in childhood and adolescence. Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry, 70(4), 419–426.

11.

Craig

Harel-Fisch

Fogel-Grinvald

Dostaler

Hetland

Simons-Morton

, … HBSC Bullying Writing Group. (2009). A cross-national profile of bullying and victimization among adolescents in 40 countries. International Journal of Public Health, 542(Suppl. 2), 216–224.

12.

Crick

N. R.

Grotpeter

J. K.

(1995). Relational aggression, gender, and social-psychological adjustment. Child Development, 66, 710–722.

13.

De Los Reyes

Prinstein

M. J.

(2004). Applying depression-distortion hypotheses to the assessment of peer victimization in adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 33(2), 325–335.

14.

Dimitrov

D. M.

(2010). Testing for factorial invariance in the context of construct validation. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 43(2), 121–149.

15.

Enders

C. K.

(2001). A primer on maximum likelihood algorithms available for use with missing data. Structural Equation Modeling, 8(1), 128–141.

16.

Felix

E. D.

Green

J. G.

(2010). Popular girls and brawny boys: The role of gender in bullying and victimization experiences. In Espelage

D. L.

(Ed.), Handbook of bullying in schools: An international perspective (pp. 173–185). Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group.

17.

Fornell

Larcker

D. F.

(1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50.

18.

Gascón-Cánovas

J. J.

Russo de Leon

J. R.

Cózar Fernandez

Heredia Calzado

J. M.

(2017). Cultural adaptation to Spanish and assessment of an Adolescent Peer Relationships Tool for detecting school bullying: Preliminary study of the psychometric properties. Anales de Pediatría, 87(1), 9–17.

19.

Gordts

Uzieblo

Neumann

Van den Bussche

Rossi

(2015). Validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scales (SRP-III full and short versions) in a community sample. Assessment, 24(3), 308–325.

20.

Hamburger

M. E.

Basile

K. C.

Vivolo

A. M.

(2011). Measuring bullying victimization, perpetration, and bystander experiences: A compendium of assessment tools. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.

21.

Hancock

G. R.

(2001). Effect size, power, and sample size determination for structured means modeling and MIMIC approaches to between-groups hypothesis testing of means on a single latent construct. Psychometrika, 66, 373–388.

22.

Hofstede

(1980). Culture’s consequences: International differences in work-related values. SAGE.

23.

Bentler

(1999). Cut off criteria for fit indices in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling, 6, 1–55.

24.

Huang

F. L.

Cornell

D. G.

(2015). The impact of definition and question order on the prevalence of bullying victimization using student self-reports. Psychological Assessment, 27(4), 1484–1493.

25.

Hymel

Swearer

S. M.

(2015). Four decades of research on school bullying: An introduction. American Psychologist, 70(4), 293–299.

26.

Zhang

Jones

(2016). Children’s experience of and attitudes towards bullying and victimization. In Smith

Kwak

Toda

(Eds.), School bullying in different cultures: Eastern and western perspectives (pp. 170–188).00 Cambridge University Press.

27.

Jia

Mikami

(2018). Issues in the assessment of bullying: Implications for conceptualizations and future directions. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 41, 108–118.

28.

Jöreskog

K. G.

Sörbom

(1993). LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the SIMPLIS command language. Scientific Software.

29.

Konishi

Hymel

Zumbo

B. D.

Taki

Slee

… ., Kwak

(2009). Investigating the comparability of a self-report measure of childhood bullying across countries. Canadian Journal of School Psychology, 24(1), 82–93.

30.

Marsh

H. W.

Balla

J. R.

Hau

K. T.

(1996). An evaluation of incremental fit indices: A clarification of mathematical processes. In Marcoulides

G. A.

Schumacker

R. E.

(Eds.), Advanced structural equation modelling techniques. Lawrence Erlbaum.

31.

Marsh

H. W.

Nagengast

Morin

A. J. S.

Parada

R. H.

Craven

R. G.

Hamilton

L. R.

(2011). Construct validity of the multidimensional structure of bullying and victimization: An application of exploratory structural equation modeling. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(3), 701–732.

32.

Mellenbergh

G. J.

(1989). Item bias and item response theory. International Journal of Educational Research, 13, 127–143.

33.

Modecki

K. L.

Minchin

Harbaugh

A. G.

Guerra

N. G.

Runions

K. C.

(2014). Bullying prevalence across contexts: A meta-analysis measuring cyber and traditional bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health, 55(5), 602–611.

34.

Mucherah

Finch

White

Thomas

(2018). The relationship of school climate, teacher defending and friends on students’ perceptions of bullying in high school. Journal of Adolescence, 62, 128–139.

35.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(2017). Mplus: Statistical analysis with latent variables: User’s guide (Version 8).

36.

Mynard

Joseph

(2000). Development of the Multidimensional Peer-Victimization Scale. Aggressive Behavior, 26, 169–178.

37.

Nasheeda

Hassan

N. C.

Hassan

S. A.

(2017). Relationship between bullies, victims, and mental health issues among adolescents. The Maldives National Journal of Research, 5(1), 23–44.

38.

Neziroglu

Borda

Khemlani-Patel

Bonasera

(2018). Prevalence of bullying in a pediatric sample of body dysmorphic disorder. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 87, 12–16.

39.

Olweus

(1993). Understanding children’s worlds. Bullying at school: What we know and what we can do. Blackwell.

40.

Parada

R. H.

(2000). Adolescent peer relations instrument: A theoretical and empirical basis for the measurement of participant roles in bullying and victimization of adolescence. An interim test manual and a research monograph: A test manual. University of Western Sydney, Self-Concept Enhancement and Learning Facilitation (SELF) Research Centre, Publication Unit.

41.

Pepler

Jiang

Craig

Connolly

(2008). Developmental trajectories of bullying and associated factors. Child Development, 79, 325–338.

42.

Rivers

Smith

P. K.

(1994). Types of bullying behavior and their correlates. Aggressive Behaviour, 20, 359–368.

43.

Rose

C. A.

Gage

N. A.

(2017). Exploring the involvement of bullying among students with disabilities over time. Exceptional Children, 83, 298–314.

44.

Sass

D. A.

(2011). Testing measurement invariance and comparing latent factor means within a confirmatory factor analysis framework. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 29(4), 347–363.

45.

Satorra

Bentler

P. M.

(1994). Corrections to test statistic sand standard errors in covariance structure analysis. In von Eye

Clogg

C. C.

(Eds.), Latent variables analysis: Applications for developmental research (pp. 399–419). SAGE.

46.

Sinclair

K. R.

Cole

D. A.

Dukewich

Felton

Weitlauf

A. S.

Maxwell

M. A.

, … Jacky

(2012). Impact of physical and relational peer victimization on depressive cognitions in children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 41(5), 570–583.

47.

Sittichai

Smith

P. K.

(2015). Bullying in south-east Asian countries: A review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 23, 22–35.

48.

Smith

P. K.

Cowie

Olafsson

R. F.

Liefooghe

A. P. D.

Almeida

Araki

, … Wenxin

(2002). Definitions of bullying: A comparison of terms used, and age and gender differences, in a fourteen-country international comparison. Child Development, 73(4), 11–19.

49.

Smith

P. K.

Kwak

Toda

(2016b). Reflections on bullying in eastern and western perspectives. In Smith

P. K.

Kwak

Toda

(Eds.), School bullying in different cultures: Eastern and western perspectives (pp. 399–419). Cambridge University Press.

50.

Steiger

J. H.

(1990). Structural model evaluation and modification: An interval estimation approach. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 25, 173–180.

51.

Ttofi

M. M.

Farrington

D. P.

Lösel

Loeber

(2011). Do the victims of school bullies tend to become depressed later in life? A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Journal of Aggression, Conflict and Peace Research, 3(2), 63–73.

52.

Vivolo-Kantor

A. M.

Martell

B. N.

Holland

K. M.

Westby

(2014). A systematic review and content analysis of bullying and cyber-bullying measurement strategies. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 19(4), 423–434.

53.

Williams

Guerra

(2007). Prevalence and predictors of Internet bullying. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41(6), 14–21.

54.

World Health Organization. (1993). The ICD-10 classification of mental and behavioural disorders: Diagnostic criteria for research.