Examining the psychometric properties of self-report measures of bullying: Reliability of the peer relations questionnaire

• Main Author: Hulsey, Cassandra
• Other Authors: Romig, Chuck
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: Wichita State University 2009
• Subjects: Electronic dissertations
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10057/2050

Self-report measures of bullying have recently been under scrutiny due to limited evidence of their psychometric properties. Nevertheless, they continue to be the main tool for estimating prevalence of bullying behavior in schools, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of bullying prevention programs. This study examined the psychometric properties of the Peer Relations Questionnaire, a widely used self-report measure of bullying. In an attempt to evaluate the internal consistency of the Victimization scale and test-retest reliability of the (PRQ) as a whole and across grade levels, it was administered twice to third and fourth, sixth and seventh, and tenth and eleventh graders with an eight week interval. Results showed moderate reliability with middle school (69.4% correspondence) and high school (74.8% correspondence) students and low reliability for elementary students (62.3% correspondence). Across all age groups, the PRQ had a test-retest reliability of 69% correspondence. Internal consistencies for the Victimization scale were high across all grade levels. These results suggest the PRQ is most effective when used with older students, although its reliability estimates have room for improvement in all groups. Future research is needed to evaluate other commonly used instruments in the field to support their use in the collection of bullying data. === Thesis (M.Ed.) - Wichita State University, College of Education, Dept. of Counseling, Educational, and School Psychology