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Affiliation
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Research Centre for Child Mental Development, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan. |
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Abstract
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AIM: The present study aimed at developing a novel scale, the Japan Ijime Scale (JaIS), to measure bullying in Japan with substantial reliability and validity, with which we estimated the prevalence of bullying among children and adolescents of school age.
METHOD: JaIS is a self-report questionnaire and consists of three parts: sub-scales measuring victimization and witnessing, and an item measuring perpetration. To test the reliability and validity of the two sub-scales, the authors analyzed responses to JaIS from 2,334 school students (grades 4-9) in six elementary and three junior high schools in a middle-size, industrial city in central Japan, using exploratory factor analysis, item response theory, and examination of the external validity of the items. The prevalence of bullying victimization, witnessing, and perpetration was estimated.
RESULTS: Item response theory models revealed that both the victimization and witness sub-scales have sufficient discrimination power and measurement precision, and the external validity of each scale has been confirmed. Using the JaIS, we found that 35.8% of students had been victims of bullying every 2-3 months (27.6% were solely victims and 8.3% were bully/victim), 32.8% had witnessed some type of bullying acts, and 11.8% had perpetrated some type of bullying (3.5% as perpetrator, and 8.3% as bully/victim).
CONCLUSION: The Japan Ijime Scale is a reliable and valid measure. Using this scale, we found high prevalence of bullying victimization in Japan. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Language: en |