Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (BPBQ)

Abstract

The Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (BPBQ) is a comprehensive, self-report instrument designed to assess the frequency of behaviors associated with five distinct participant roles in school bullying dynamics. Developed by Demaray and colleagues, the scale aims to move beyond simple bully/victim dichotomies by measuring involvement across five dimensions: Bully, Assistant, Victim, Defender, and Outsider. This instrument provides valuable data for researchers and school psychologists seeking to understand the complex social dynamics and specific behavioral patterns within peer victimization contexts, allowing for targeted intervention strategies.

Keywords

Bullying, School Violence, Peer Victimization, Bully Participant Roles, Social Dynamics, Defender Behavior, Bystander, Psychometric properties

Authors

Michelle K. Demaray, Kelly H. Summers, Lyndsay N. Jenkins, Lisa D. Beckerd

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the BPBQ is to provide a reliable and valid measure of specific behaviors exhibited by students who participate in bullying incidents. Unlike measures that only assess whether a student is a bully or a victim, the BPBQ captures the nuanced roles students assume, including those who assist the aggressor, those who defend the victim, and those who remain outside the conflict as passive observers (Outsiders).

This detailed assessment of behavioral frequency across roles is essential for accurate profiling of student involvement, facilitating research into the motivational factors behind different participation types, and informing the development of comprehensive school-based anti-bullying programs that target the entire social system rather than just the direct aggressors and victims.

Construct

The BPBQ is constructed around the social-ecological model of bullying, positing that peer victimization is a group phenomenon involving multiple participants. The scale measures five specific behavioral constructs, each representing a distinct role:

• Bully: Behaviors associated with initiating or perpetrating aggressive acts (e.g., verbal threats, physical harm, social exclusion).
• Assistant: Behaviors where a student actively joins the bully or encourages the aggressive act, thereby reinforcing the bully’s actions.
• Victim: Experiences of being targeted by aggressive, harmful, or exclusionary behaviors.
• Defender: Pro-social behaviors aimed at stopping the bullying, supporting the victim, or seeking adult intervention.
• Outsider: Behaviors of passive non-involvement, such as ignoring the bullying incident or pretending not to notice the harmful behavior.

Validity

The establishment of the BPBQ’s validity was documented in the 2014 study by Demaray, Summers, Jenkins, & Beckerd. The research focused on establishing construct validity and ensuring the scale accurately measured the intended five dimensions of participation. The instrument’s ability to differentiate between distinct roles supports its utility in clinical and research settings focused on complex peer interactions.

The BPBQ demonstrates strong construct validity through its clear differentiation of roles, which aligns well with theoretical models of group involvement in bullying. Furthermore, the instrument’s utility is supported by previous related research, such as the 2003 work by Demaray and Malecki concerning the perceptions of frequency and importance of social support among classified victims, bullies, and bully/victims.

Reliability

The BPBQ exhibits excellent internal consistency across all five subscales, indicating high reliability. The Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients reported in the 2014 validation study are consistently high:

• Bully: α = 0.88
• Assistant: α = 0.92
• Victim: α = 0.94
• Defender: α = 0.94
• Outsider: α = 0.94

These high alpha values suggest that the items within each subscale are strongly correlated and reliably measure the intended underlying construct (e.g., the set of items designated as ‘Victim’ reliably measures the experience of victimization).

Factor Analysis

The structure of the BPBQ implies a five-factor solution corresponding to the five participant roles (Bully, Assistant, Victim, Defender, Outsider). The validation process likely involved conducting a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to ensure that the observed covariance structure of the items aligned with the hypothesized five-factor model derived from the social-ecological theory of bullying. The high internal consistency scores further support the distinctness and coherence of these underlying factors.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Questionnaire

Format: 5-point Likert scale, assessing frequency of behavior.

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: School-aged children and adolescents.

Age Group: Typically utilized in middle school and high school populations (adolescence).

Population Details: The initial validation studies often focused on urban middle school populations, though the scale is applicable wherever peer victimization occurs in educational settings.

Test Methodology: Respondents rate how frequently they have engaged in or experienced the specified behaviors using the following scale:

• 0 = never
• 1 = 1 to 2 times
• 2 = 3 to 4 times
• 3 = 5 to 6 times
• 4 = 7 or more times

Keywords

Adolescent Psychology, Peer Relations, Bullying Assessment, Social Support, School Climate, Student Behavior, Peer Aggression, Victimization Scale

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source material.

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Michelle K. Demaray, Northern Illinois University)

Correspondence Address: Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL (Inferred from Summers & Demaray, 2008)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The initial development of the questionnaire was documented in 2008 (Summers & Demaray), with the full psychometric validation published in 2014 (Demaray et al.). Specific details regarding permissions and usage fees are generally managed by the authors; interested parties are advised to contact the primary author, Michelle K. Demaray. The published instrument is often made available for academic research purposes.

Reference’s

The instrument and related research can be found at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265412543

• Demaray, M. K., & Malecki, C. K. (2003). Perceptions of the frequency and importance of social support by students classified as victims, bullies, and bully/victims in an urban middle school. School Psychology Review, 32, 471–489.
• Summers, K., & Demaray, M. K. (2008). Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University.
• Demaray, Michelle K., Summers, Kelly H., Jenkins, Lyndsay N. & Beckerd, Lisa D. (2014). Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (BPBQ): Establishing a Reliable and Valid Measure. Journal of School Violence, 1-31. DOI: 10.1080/15388220.2014.964801

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Items of the Bullying Participant Behaviors Questionnaire (BPBQ)

Bully

1. I have called another student bad names
2. I have made fun of another student
3. I have purposely left out another student
4. I have ignored another student*
5. I have pushed, punched or slapped another student
6. I have bumped into another student on purpose*
7. I have told lies about another student
8. I have tried to make people dislike another student
9. I have stolen things from another student
10. I have damaged or broken something that was another student’s*
11. I have verbally threatened another student*
12. I have made another student do things they didn’t want to do*
13. I have thrown things at another student
14. I have tripped another student on purpose*
15. I have said bad things about another student
16. I have talked about someone behind their back
17. When someone else has started spreading rumors, I joined in*
18. When someone was ignoring another student, I joined in*
19. When someone was being pushed, punched, or slapped, I stopped to watch*
20. When someone else has started pushing or shoving a student, I joined in*

Assistant

21. When someone was making fun of another student, I joined in
22. When someone was verbally threatening another student, I joined in
23. When someone was making a student do things they did not want to do, I joined in*
24. When someone else was telling lies about another student, I joined in*
25. When someone bumped into another person, I joined in
26. I have made fun of someone when they were pushed, punched, or slapped
27. I have made fun of someone who was being called mean names
28. When someone else broke something that belonged to another student, I stopped to watch
29. When someone else tripped another student on purpose, I laughed
30. When someone else knocked books out of another student’s hands on purpose, I laughed
31. When someone else pinched or poked another student, I joined in
32. When someone else threw something at another student, I joined in

Victim

33. I have been called mean names
34. I have been made fun of
35. I have been purposely left out of something
36. I have been ignored
37. I have been pushed around, punched or slapped
38. I have been pushed or shoved
39. People have told lies about me
40. People have tried to make others dislike me
41. I have been threatened by others
42. People have damaged or broken something that was mine*
43. I have had things taken from me
44. People have made me do things I did not want to do*
45. I have been tripped by another student on purpose*
46. I have had my books knocked out of my hands on purpose*
47. I have been pinched or poked*
48. I have had something thrown at me*

Defender

49. I tried to make people stop spreading rumors about others*
50. When I saw someone being mean to others, I threatened to tell an adult if it didn’t stop*
51. I told someone that picking on others is mean and they should not do it*
52. I tried to make someone feel better after they were picked on*
53. I tried to become friends with someone after they were picked on
54. I encouraged someone to tell an adult after they were picked on
55. I defended someone by telling people that a rumor is not true*
56. I defended someone who was being pushed, punched, or slapped
57. When I saw someone being picked on, I told an adult*
58. I defended someone who had things purposely taken from them
59. I defended someone who was being called mean names
60. I tried to include someone if they were being purposely left out
61. I helped someone who had their books knocked out of their hands on purpose
62. I helped someone who was purposely tripped
63. When I saw someone being physically harmed, I told an adult
64. I defended someone who I thought was being tricked on purpose

Outsider

65. I ignored lies people spread about other students*
66. I ignored it when I saw someone threatening another student*
67. I pretended not to notice when another student was being pushed, punched, or slapped*
68. I pretended not to notice when things were taken or stolen from another student
69. I pretended not to notice when rumors were being spread about other students
70. I ignored it when I saw someone making fun of another student
71. I pretended not to notice a situation that purposely left someone out
72. I ignored it when someone was calling another student bad names*
73. I ignored it when I saw someone breaking or damaging another student’s things
74. I have walked away when I saw someone else being picked on*
75. I pretended not to notice when someone else knocked the books out of another student’s hands on purpose*
76. I pretended not to notice when someone else tripped another student on purpose
77. I ignored it when someone else pinched or poked another student
78. I ignored it when someone else threw something at another student
79. I ignored it when someone else tricked another student
80. I pretended not to notice when someone was destroying another student’s property

* Items were dropped from final version.