The comprehensive bullying scale for elementary school students: A study of developing a valid and reliable assessment instrument

The goal of this study was to develop a valid and reliable scale to measure bullying and cyberbullying behaviors of elementary school students in a multi-dimensional way. The scale is the first in the national literature as it combines peer bullying and cyber bullying behaviors.In line with the validity studies of the scale, expert opinion was initially, sought for content validity. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were performed for construct validity. The data of the EFA group were collected from a total of 366 elementary school students studying in the 3rd and 4th grades in Gaziantep. As a result of two separate EFAs for bullying and victimization, it was found that the scale consisted of 33 items with a single factor structure with factor loading values of 0.32 and above. The data of the DFA group were obtained from a total of 594 students studying in the 3rd and 4th grades in different elementary schools in Gaziantep. The 33-item scale was used as a data collection tool. Bullying and victimization scales, each consisting of 33 items and a single factor structure, were tested separately with two independent confirmatory factor analyses. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, it was found that the bullying and victimization models tested had good fit values. For the reliability of the scale, the internal consistency coefficient of the bullying and victimization items was calculated in both the EFA and CFA groups. For the items of the EFA data, the internal consistency coefficient of the bullying 0.91 was, and the internal consistency coefficient of the victimization items was 0.93. For the items of the CFA data, the internal consistency coefficient of the bullying items was 0.92, and the internal consistency coefficient of the victimization items was 0.94. The findings show that the Comprehensive Bullying Scale For Elemantary School Students is a valid and reliable measurement tool to assess bullying and cyberbullying in a multi-dimensional way. Items of the scale are scored straight. As the scores increase, the level of being bullied and victimized by the students also increases.The Comprehensive Bullying Scale For Elemantary School Students can be used by elementary school teachers, school counselors and researchers aiming to fight against bullying in elementary school to measure bullying behaviors in elementary school. Keywords: Peer bullying, cyberbullying, elementary school students, validity and reliability.