Latent Structure of Early Adolescent Bullying Perpetration: A Taxometric Analysis of Raw and Ranked Scores

Autor/inn/en	Walters, Glenn D.; Espelage, Dorothy L.
Titel	Latent Structure of Early Adolescent Bullying Perpetration: A Taxometric Analysis of Raw and Ranked Scores
Quelle	In: Educational and Psychological Measurement, 79 (2019) 4, S.754-772 (19 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0013-1644
DOI	10.1177/0013164418824142
Schlagwörter	Early Adolescents; Bullying; Middle School Students; Scores; Raw Scores; Gender Differences; Measures (Individuals); Illinois + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Mobbing; Middle school; Middle schools; Student; Students; Mittelschule; Mittelstufenschule; Schüler; Schülerin; Geschlechterkonflikt; Messdaten
Abstract	The purpose of this study was to investigate the latent structure type (categorical vs. dimensional) of bullying perpetration in a large sample of middle school students. A nine-item bullying scale was administered to 1,222 (625 boys, 597 girls) early adolescents enrolled in middle schools in a Midwestern state. Based on the results of a principal axis factoring analysis, the nine items were organized into four homogeneous scales. These scales were then used as indicators in a taxometric analysis of the bullying perpetration construct. According to the results of three nonredundant taxometric procedures (mean above minus below a cut, maximum covariance, and latent mode factor analysis), the total sample showed evidence of dimensional or continuous latent structure, but the male and female subsamples produced outcomes that were more ambiguous. Because the indicators were highly skewed and leptokurtic, raw scores were converted to rank normalized scores and the taxometric analyses recomputed. These recomputed analyses provided unequivocal support for dimensional latent structure in the total sample as well as in both subsamples. From these results, it was surmised that bullying perpetration is continuously organized and that rank normalized scores may improve the interpretability of taxometric findings derived from highly nonnormal indicators. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01