Validation of a Brief Self-Report Measure of Adolescent Bullying Perpetration and Victimization

Although a wide range of measures of bullying have been developed, there remains a need for brief psychometrically supported measures for use in contexts in which there are constraints on the number of items that can be administered. We thus evaluated the reliability and validity of scores from a 10-item self-report measure of bullying victimization and perpetration in adolescents: the Zurich Brief Bullying Scales. The measure covers social exclusion, property destruction, verbal and physical aggression, and sexual bullying in both traditional and cyber forms. We evaluated factorial validity, internal consistency, developmental invariance, gender invariance, and convergent and divergent validity of the measure. Our sample was the normative longitudinal Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso) sample (N = 1,304). The study involved the administration of Zurich Brief Bullying Scales to participants aged 11, 13, 15, and 17 years. Strengths and weaknesses of the measure and recommendations for utilizing and improving the measure were identified. Overall, results suggest that the items provide a reasonable general but brief measure of bullying victimization and perpetration that can be used across early to late adolescence and in both males and females.