 Youth Teasing and Bullying are a major public health problem  ~20% of youths report being bullied or bullying at school in a given year  160,000 on any given day  Significant psychological and physical sequelae  Healthy People 2020 Objective – reduce bullying among adolescents  State legislation requiring teasing and bullying interventions

Dynamic social interactions comprised of a set of verbal and/or non-verbal behaviors that occur among peers and that is humorous and playful on one level but may be annoying to the target child on another level.

Repetitive persistent patterns of conduct by one or more children that deliberately inflict physical, verbal, or emotional abuse on another child and where a real or perceived power differential is in place.

Mean-spirited bullying that is poorly received; Objective bullying Good-natured teasing that is poorly received; Chronic teasing/ Subjective bullying Mean-spirited bullying that is well received; Builds resiliency to bullying Good-natured teasing that is well received

 Goal: to allow for a safe acquirement and reproducibility of measuring characteristics  Analysis of data should reflect reality rather than just the numbers

 CTT : has the test (not the item) as its basis › Although the statistics generated are often generalized to similar students taking a similar test; they only really apply to those students taking that test  Latent trait models: aim to look beyond that at the underlying traits which are producing the test performance › They are measured at item level and provide sample-free measurement

Items Analysis Latent Trait Models Classical Test Theory Item Response Theory Rasch Models 3P 1P 2P 4P

 To demonstrate the relationship between item difficulty and person ability › The latent variable is conceptualized as existing along a continuum › Items can be hierarchically ordered along the continuum  The score provides information regarding what it means to be at a specific place on the continuum

 Final instrument: 32 items and 4 domains DOMAIN # of ITEMS EXTRACTED VARIANCE CRONBACH’S ALPHA Personality & Behavior1318.4%.89 Family & Environment 812.4%.84 School-related 911.8%.85 Body Size 2 8.6%.82

 To evaluate the degree to which the CATS items have been developed in accordance with the assumptions of the Rasch measurement model

 Methodological study design  It was hypothesized that teasing/bullying, as measured by the CATS items, are: › unidimensional in nature › follows a hierarchical order in the way that the items define the variable › a continuum along which the CATS items can be ordered and people experiencing › various levels of teasing/bullying can be placed  Secondary data analysis  Sample: 666 children aged years

 Each CATS subscale evaluated independently  Winsteps v for Rasch analyses  Rasch Rating Scale Model:

 Person & Item Separation Statistics › Hierarchical Order  Analysis of Fit › Fit to Ideal Rasch Model  Principal Components Analysis of Rasch Residuals › Dimensionality  Variable Maps › Hierarchical Order › Continuum

 The current CATS subscales were not uni-dimensional, did not strictly follow hierarchical order, and did not stretch along the entire continuum DOMAIN Unidimen- sionality? Hierarchial Ordering? Covers Continuum? Fit to Rasch? Personality & Behavior No 3 underfits 3 overfits Family & Environment No 2 overfits School-relatedNo 2 overfits Body SizeYewNo Good fit

Personality & Behavior Family & Environment School-related Body size Domain

Mean-spirited bullying that is poorly received; Objective bullying Good-natured teasing that is poorly received; Chronic teasing/ Subjective bullying Mean-spirited bullying that is well received; Builds resiliency to bullying Good-natured teasing that is well received

The divergent results between the CTT and Rasch analyses, while not completely surprising, underscore the need for continued refinement of an instrument’s psychometric properties to ensure that is measuring the concept of interest in the way that it was intended. Reference: Vessey, J. A., DiFazio, R. L., & Strout, T. D. (2012). Increasing meaning in measurement: A Rasch analysis of the CATS. Nursing Research, 69,