Validating the Spanish version of the aggression scale in adolescents

ABSTRACT

The Scale of Physical and Verbal Aggressiveness has been an instrument widely used in the scientific literature to measure physical and verbal aggressiveness, both in children and adolescents as well as in parents. The original scale has shown adequate psychometric properties. However, the scale has not been previously validated in Spanish, and no confirmatory analyses have been provided yet in Spanish contexts. The aim of this paper is to validate the Spanish version of the Physical and Verbal Aggressiveness Scale via confirmatory factor analysis, with a sample of 531 secondary school adolescents from the Dominican Republic. Reliability, factorial, convergent, and discriminant validity evidence is presented. The results showed that the scale has adequate one-factor confirmatory solution, with very good reliability, and adequate validity when assessed in a sample of Dominican students. The results contrast the differentiation between verbal and physical aggression, questioning the use of the scale for this purpose.

KEYWORDS:

• Violence
• secondary school students
• confirmatory factor analysis
• reliability
• validity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work received funding from the University of Valencia and the Valencia City Council with the Juan Castelló 2018-2019 PhD Scholarship.

Notes on contributors

P. Sancho

P. Sancho, PhD in Psychology and MA in health and social care in dependency and Clinical Psychology, is Assistant Professor in Educational and Developmental Psychology at University of Valencia. Main lines of her research are elderly quality of life, structural equation models, and psychometrics.

C. Suero-Maloney

C. Suero-Maloney is an Adscrit Professor in the Departament of Psychology at Autonomous University of Santo Domingo. Avda. Alma Mater; Ciudad Universitaria, 10103, Santo Domingo (República Dominicana). His main research includes school violence and suicidal ideation, prosocial behavior and emotional factors in adolescence; and academic success and school satisfaction in high school.

J. M. Tomás

J. M. Tomás, PhD in Psychology, is Full Professor in Methodology for the Behavioral Sciences at University of Valencia. Her research has focused on applying Structural Equations Modeling in several areas of interest in Psychology, such as Organizational Psychology, Social Psychology or Evolutionary Psychology.

A. I. Córdoba

A. I. Córdoba is an Associate Professor in the Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Valencia. Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 21; 46010, Valencia (Spain). Her main research includes employability, transitions to work and work integration in vulnerable groups; resilience and prosocial behavior in adolescence; and identity development in emergent adulthood.

D. Jiménez

D. Jiménez is Bachelor of Pedagogy from the University of Murcia. Doctor in Social Sciences and Communication from the Catholic University San Antonio de Murcia. He is currently a Doctor Assistant at the Miguel Hernández University of Elche. His teaching is important in the degree of Early Childhood Education. He has mainly directed his research to teaching, teacher training and Information and Communication Technologies.

I. Esnaola

I. Esnaola, with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Psychopedagogy, and Doctorates in Psychology, I have taught in the fields of Teaching, Psychology, Pedagogy and Social Education, as well as in the Master of Psycho Didactics and in the Master of Secondary Education. I am a full professor with two six-year terms of research and three five-year periods (favorable evaluations of the teaching activity). My research topic has been related to self-concept, publishing about twenty five WOS articles, although now I am more oriented to the analysis of the contextual and personal variables that influence psychosocial adjustment. I have supervised five doctoral theses and around thirty Master’s Thesis and Bachelor dissertations. As a member of the Psikor research group, recognized as a consolidated research group by the Basque Government, I have participated in some Micinn projects and led regional and UPV/EHU research projects; I am currently participating in a European project on homeless people. I have done a research stay at the University of Nevada and two at Queen’s University. In addition, I have been the chief editor (2008-2012), associate director (2012-2013) and executive director (2013-present) of the Revista de Psicodidactica.