RESUME:

Measuring the Youth Bullying Experience: A Systematic Review of the

Psychometric Properties of Available Instruments
Youth bullying is an urgent public health problem with prevalence estimates ranging from
20% to 45%, depending on the population studied and definitional criteria used.
Important considerations in choosing a bullying measure include measure characteristics
such as whether or not a definition of bullying will be provided, if the term bullied will be used,
the referent time frame within which youths are asked to report their experiences, the type of
response options provided by the measure, and the type of informant utilized.
METHODS
Study Protocol and Registration
The review protocol used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses (PRISMA) guidelines for the reporting of systematic reviews and the guidelines
provided by the Cochrane Collaboration.

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion criteria for studies were as follows: (1) they were primary psychometric studies; (2) the
instruments were designed to measure peer bullying in youths between the ages of 6 and 21
years; (3) the instrument was a self-report measure; and (4) the study was published in an
English language peer-review journal or was a doctoral dissertation.
Search Strategy
A systematic search strategy was developed by a research librarian and study investigators to
comprehensively identify all relevant psychometric studies where the instrument under review
was appropriate to use with students in elementary or secondary schools.
Study Selection
Data Collection and Processing
The quality of each article was assessed by pairs of raters using a standardized assessment form
and interpretation guide developed by MacDermid.
RESULTS
Reliability
Test-retest reliability. We identified limited evidence for the test-retest reliability of available
bullying scales. Internal consistency reliability.
Validity
Content validity, Floor-ceiling effects, Factorial validity, Construct validity, Predictive validity.
Measurement Invariance

Administrative Burden, Language, and Culture

DISCUSSION
Across the health professions, a wide variety of instruments are available to measure clinical
conditions, health status, and many related concepts.
Limitations
This systematic review has several limitations.
Conclusions
The results of this systematic review indicate that although a wide variety of self-report
instruments designed to evaluate the youth bullying experience are available, they generally lack
maturity and many published papers reporting on their psychometric properties are of inadequate
methodological quality.
IMPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL HEALTH
Accurate measurement techniques are essential to the ability of school personnel and others who
work with students to move the science of youth bullying forward.
Human Subjects Approval Statement
This study involved no human subjects in the research, and therefore, was exempt from
institutional review board examination.