Adolescent Defending Behaviors Questionnaire (ADBQ)

Abstract

The Adolescent Defending Behaviors Questionnaire (ADBQ; Wang et al., 2023) is a 24-item original inventory designed to measure and quantify the multidimensional nature of defending behaviors exhibited by adolescents in bullying situations. The instrument’s development involved deriving items from existing measures, rigorous translation into Chinese, and subsequent validation via back-translation reviewed by bilingual experts.

The initial pool of items was refined and supplemented through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and expert panel reviews, resulting in a 34-item draft. Data collected across two comprehensive studies supported the final 24-item instrument, which is structured according to a robust 5-factor model. Detailed psychometric analysis confirming its reliability and validity has been reported in academic literature.

Keywords

Assertive Defending, Aggressive Defending, Comforting Victims, Reporting to Authority, Tactical Defending, Adolescent Defending Behaviors, School Bullying, Defensiveness, Developmental Measures, Bullying, Adolescent Characteristics.

Authors

Wang, Zixuan, Laninga-Wijnen, Lydia, Garandeau, Claire F., Liu, Junsheng.

Purpose

The primary purpose of the ADBQ is to provide a standardized, psychometrically sound tool capable of assessing the complex, multidimensionality of defending behaviors in early adolescents.

This assessment is vital for researchers and educators seeking to understand the specific strategies young people employ—ranging from direct intervention to seeking help—when they witness or choose to intervene in peer victimization incidents, thereby guiding the development of effective anti-bullying interventions.

Construct

The ADBQ measures the psychological construct of defending behaviors in response to peer bullying. This construct is operationalized through five distinct, empirically supported dimensions:

• Assertive defending
• Aggressive defending
• Comforting victims
• Reporting to authority
• Tactical defending

By capturing these different behavioral facets, the scale provides a nuanced perspective on how adolescents choose to intervene, recognizing that defending actions can encompass both prosocial (e.g., comforting) and potentially antisocial (e.g., aggressive) strategies.

Validity

The construct validity of the ADBQ is evidenced by the differential associations demonstrated between its five factors and various established psychological constructs.

The distinct defending dimensions correlated meaningfully with measures of cognitive and affective empathy, aggression, sociability, peer preference, and personal victimization experiences. These patterns provide strong support that the subscales are measuring theoretically distinct and relevant facets of defending behavior, confirming the instrument’s capacity to discriminate between different underlying psychological mechanisms.

Reliability

The ADBQ demonstrates strong internal consistency across its subscales, indicating that items within each factor are highly correlated. Internal consistency, measured by Cronbach’s alpha, ranged from .78 to .93 across the five factors.

The test-retest reliability, assessed across two time points (Time 1 and Time 2), was found to be adequate for all factors, with correlation coefficients as follows: assertive defending (r = .32), aggressive defending (r = .25), comforting victims (r = .40), reporting to authority (r = .35), and tactical defending (r = .30). All reported correlations were statistically significant (p < .01).

Factor Analysis

The factor structure of the ADBQ was rigorously tested using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). A 5-factor model, comprising the final 24 items, was strongly supported, accounting for 56.1% of the cumulative variance in the model.

Initial EFA suggested that both a five-factor structure and a six-factor structure provided a good fit to the data. However, the six-factor model failed to demonstrate a significantly improved fit over the five-factor model, as indicated by minimal changes in fit indices (CFI and TLI decreased by <.010; RMSEA increased by <.015). The final 24-item, five-factor model demonstrated adequate goodness-of-fit indices in subsequent CFA: χ² (166) = 817.21, p < .001, CFI = .961, TLI = .936, RMSEA = .060 (90% CI = [.056, .064]).

Furthermore, Measurement Invariance (MI) analyses confirmed that the scale structure is generalizable across gender, ensuring that the same underlying construct is being measured similarly for male and female adolescents.

Instrument

Test Type: Original

Format: Items are measured on a five-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

Language Available: Chinese; English

Population Group: Human; Male; Female

Age Group: Childhood (birth-12 yrs); School Age (6-12 yrs)

Population Details: The respondents were Chinese youth in Grades 4 to 6, located in China (early adolescents).

Test Methodology: The development and validation of the ADBQ involved a comprehensive range of psychometric techniques, including Test Validity, Construct Validity, Content Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Test-Retest Reliability, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis, and Measurement Invariance.

Keywords

Assertive Defending, Aggressive Defending, Comforting Victims, Reporting to Authority, Tactical Defending, Adolescent Defending Behaviors, School Bullying, Bullying Situations, Defensiveness, Developmental Measures, Bullying, Adolescent Characteristics.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: orcid.org/0000-0002-0395-020X (Garandeau, Claire F.); orcid.org/0000-0002-6823-0617 (Liu, Junsheng)

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Liu, Junsheng)

Correspondence Address: Liu, Junsheng: East China Normal University, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, Affiliated Mental Health Center (ECNU), Shanghai Key Laboratory of Mental Health and Psychological Crisis Intervention, 3663 Zhongshan Road (North), Shanghai, China, 200062.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: May be used for Research/Teaching purposes.

Fee: No fee is required for its use.

Test Year: 2023

Reference’s

Wang, Z., Laninga-Wijnen, L., Garandeau, C. F., & Liu, J. (2023). Development and validation of the Adolescent Defending Behaviors Questionnaire among Chinese early adolescents. Assessment, 30(7), 2258–2275. doi.org/10.1177/10731911221149082

Items of the Adolescent Defending Behaviors Questionnaire (ADBQ)

The ADBQ is a 24-item measure that is categorized into five factors (subscales):

• Assertive defending

• Aggressive defending

• Comforting victims

• Reporting to authority

• Tactical defending

The items for the ADBQ are available in the supplemental material of the source reference, specifically on pages 12-14.

Adolescent Defending Behaviors Questionnaire (ADBQ)

1. 我 会 直 接 上 前 追 赶 、 拽 走 或 赶 走 欺 凌 者 ， 从 而 制 止 欺 负 行 为 。
   I tried to help the victim by chasing the bully away.

2. 我 会 跟 欺 凌 者 说 欺 负 别 人 是 不 对 的 。
   I said to the bully that bullying is wrong.

3. 我 会 骂 欺 凌 者 来 保 护 被 欺 负 的 同 学 。
   I called the bully names in order to stand up for the victim.

4. 我 会 把 欺 负 事 件 告 诉 老 师 。
   I went to tell the teacher about the bullying.

5. 我 会 在 课 间 和 被 欺 负 的 同 学 待 在 一 起 ， 陪 着 他/她 。
   I stayed with the victim during the breaks.

6. 我 会 跟 其 他 人 说 欺 负 别 人 是 不 对 的 。
   I said to the others that bullying is wrong.

7. 我 会 说 欺 凌 者 的 坏 话 ， 散 播 关 于 欺 凌 者 的 谣 言 ， 来 维 护 被 欺 负 的 同 学 。
   I spread nasty gossip about the bully to stand up for the victim.

8. 我 会 充 当 和 事 佬 或 者 通 过 言 语 调 停 来 解 决 欺 负 事 件 。
   I tried to act as a mediator to stop bullying.

9. 我 会 叫 停 欺 负 行 为 ， 比 如 说 ： “ 别 打 了 ” 、 “ 别 说 了 ” 、 “ 停 ！ ” 。
   I told the bully to stop bullying by saying “stop it”, “quit it”.

10. 我 会 告 诉 家 长 。
    I told a parent about the bullying.

11. 我 会 推 搡 、 踢 打 欺 凌 者 ， 让 他/她 停 止 欺 负 行 为 。
    I pushed or hit the bully to make it stop.

12. 我 会 在 课 余 时 间 和 被 欺 负 的 同 学 做 朋 友 。
    I was friend with the victim during the breaks.

13. 我 会 试 着 让 被 欺 负 的 同 学 高 兴 起 来 。
    I tried to cheer the victim up.

14. 我 会 拿 欺 凌 者 开 玩 笑 ， 以 支 持 受 欺 负 的 同 学 。
    I made fun of the bully to stand up for the victim.

15. 我 会 用 一 些 计 策 转 移 欺 凌 者 的 注 意 力 ， 让 他/她 不 再 欺 负 同 学 。
    I tried to draw the bully’s attention off to make him/her stop bullying.

16. 我 会 孤 立 欺 凌 者 ， 不 带 他/她 一 起 玩 。
    I tried to keep the bully out of activities or groups.

17. 我 会 对 被 欺 负 的 同 学 表 达 善 意 ， 对 他/她 好 。
    I was nice to the victim.

18. 我 会 在 看 到 欺 负 事 件 时 ， 假 装 大 喊 ： “ 老 师 来 了 ！ ” 从 而 吓 跑 欺 凌 者 。
    I pretended to shout, “here comes the teacher!” to scare away the bully.

19. 我 会 假 装 先 顺 着 欺 凌 者 ， 事 后 再 想 办 法 解 决 。
    I pretended to go along with the bully first, and then tried to find a way to resolve the issue later.