Child Social Behavior Questionnaire

Abstract

The Child Social Behavior Questionnaire (CSBQ), developed by Warden, Christie, Cheyne, and Fitzpatrick (2000), is a psychological instrument designed to assess a child’s perception of various social behaviors exhibited in a school setting. The primary version presented here is a self-report measure, although parallel peer-nomination and teacher-rating formats also exist, as detailed in Warden et al. (2003). The CSBQ is structured to measure distinct dimensions of peer interaction, focusing specifically on prosocial behavior, antisocial behavior, and experiences of victimization among school-aged children.

Keywords

Prosocial behavior, Antisocial behavior, Victimization, Bullying, Peer relations, School psychology, Self-report scale, Social competence.

Authors

David Warden, Donald Christie, Bob Cheyne, Helen Fitzpatrick, K. Reid.

Purpose

The fundamental purpose of the Child Social Behavior Questionnaire is to provide a structured and empirically validated method for quantifying the frequency with which children engage in or experience specific social interactions, both positive and negative, within their classroom or peer group environment. It serves as a diagnostic and research tool particularly useful for assessing dynamics related to bullying, aggression, and supportive behaviors among peers.

By capturing behaviors across multiple domains—including practical and relational prosocial behaviors, and overt and relational antisocial behaviors—the scale allows researchers and practitioners to gain a nuanced understanding of a child’s role in the social ecosystem of the school, whether they function primarily as a helper, a perpetrator, or a target of negative peer actions.

Construct

The CSBQ is structured around three core psychological constructs: Prosocial Behavior, Antisocial Behavior, and Victimization. Prosocial behavior encompasses actions intended to benefit peers and is subdivided into practical behaviors (e.g., helping with work, sharing resources) and relational behaviors (e.g., comforting, offering emotional support, defending others).

Antisocial behavior covers harmful actions directed toward peers, categorized into overt antisocial behavior (physical aggression, destruction of property, threats) and relational antisocial behavior (social exclusion, spreading rumors, verbal abuse). The third construct, Victimization, measures the extent to which the child perceives themselves as a target of negative peer actions, such as being hit, left out of games, or repeatedly picked on. Filler items are included to reduce response bias.

Validity

The development of the CSBQ, as documented in the 2003 Educational Psychology paper, suggests a focus on establishing robust construct validity. The scale’s design, which clearly separates items into subscales based on the type (prosocial vs. antisocial) and mode (overt vs. relational) of interaction, supports the theoretical model that social aggression and support are multifaceted phenomena.

Validity studies conducted by the developers typically involve demonstrating concurrent validity by correlating CSBQ scores with other established measures of peer aggression, social competence, and empathy. The structural validity is supported by the factor analysis, which confirms that the items load onto the intended five distinct factors, thereby justifying the scoring system used to calculate subscale scores.

Reliability

Reliability of the CSBQ is established primarily through measures of internal consistency, typically reported using Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients for each of the derived subscales (e.g., Practical Prosocial, Victimization). High internal consistency ensures that the items within each factor reliably measure the same underlying construct.

Additionally, the scale’s academic utility depends on demonstrating adequate test-retest reliability, especially important when tracking behavioral changes over time in longitudinal studies. The established methodology, including the use of parallel versions (self-report, peer-nomination, teacher-rating), allows for cross-method reliability checks, offering further confidence in the stability and accuracy of the measurements across different informants.

Factor Analysis

The scoring structure of the CSBQ is based on the results of Factor Analysis, which was used to organize the 24 items into meaningful and distinct subscales. The analysis yielded five primary factors representing the key dimensions of child social behavior:

• Practical Prosocial Behavior: Items 1, 8, 11, and 16.
• Relational Prosocial Behavior: Items 5, 14, 18, and 22.
• Overt Antisocial Behavior: Items 4, 7, 12, and 20.
• Relational Antisocial Behavior: Items 17, 19, 23, and 24.
• Victimization: Items 3, 6, 9, and 13.

This five-factor solution provides a detailed profile of a child’s social interaction patterns, distinguishing between various forms of aggression and support, and separating self-reported behavior (perpetration/support) from self-reported experience (victimization).

Instrument

Test Type: Psychometric self-report questionnaire.

Format: 24 items rated on a 3-point frequency scale. Point values are assigned as follows: Never = 0, Sometimes = 1, Often = 2.

Language Available: English (Original development).

Population Group: School-aged children.

Age Group: Typically used with children in primary school settings.

Population Details: Developed based on samples of children in Scotland; intended for use in educational, clinical, and developmental psychology research focused on peer relations and bullying.

Test Methodology: The child responds to questions regarding the frequency of specific actions or experiences within their school environment. Items 2, 10, 15, and 21 serve as filler items and are not included in the calculation of the five core subscale scores.

Keywords

Peer aggression, Social competence, Developmental psychology, School environment, Educational Psychology, Peer relations, Bullying assessment.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Donald Christie: [email protected]; David Warden: [email protected].

Correspondence Address: Donald Christie, PhD, Department of Childhood and Primary Studies, Faculty of Education, University of Strathclyde, Jordanhill Campus, Glasgow G13 1PP, UK (Tel: +44 141 950 3360). David Warden, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Strathclyde, 40 George St., Glasgow G1 1QE, UK (Tel: +44 141 548 2576).

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The initial version of the scale was developed in 2000, with the refined structure published in 2003. Copyright is held by the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland (2003). The scale is reproduced with permission from Dr. Donald Christie.

The CSBQ is included in the CDC’s resource, “Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Bystander Experiences: A Compendium of Assessment Tools.” The original PDF of this compendium, which contains the instrument, can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullycompendiumbk-a.pdf. Users should contact the developers for current information regarding formal licensing or usage fees for research or clinical applications.

Reference’s

• Warden, D., Christie, D., Cheyne, B., Fitzpatrick, H., & Reid, K. (2000). The Child Social Behaviour Questionnaire. Glascow: University of Strathclyde.
• Warden, D., Cheyne, B., Christie, D., Fitzpatrick, H., & Reid, K. (2003). Assessing children’s perceptions of prosocial and antisocial behaviour. Educational Psychology, 23, 547–567.

Items of the Child Social Behavior Questionnaire

1. Help another child in your class with their work?
2. Work on a computer?
3. Are hit by another child in your class?
4. Hit or kick another child?
5. Play with another child in your class who has nobody to play with?
6. Are left out of a game?
7. Push or trip another child in your class on purpose?
8. Help another child if they’ve fallen over or hurt themselves?
9. Are picked on by another child in your class?
10. Have a school dinner?
11. Let another child in your class play with your game or toy?
12. Join in with a group of children to hurt another child?
13. Are upset because another child keeps being nasty to you?
14. Are nice to another child in your class who is sad or unhappy?
15. Read a comic or magazine?
16. Share crisps or sweets with another child during playtime or dinnertime?
17. Stop another child in your class from joining in a game?
18. Stick up for another child in your class who is in trouble?
19. Spread nasty stories about another child in your class?
20. Break another child’s things because you want to upset them?
21. Play football?
22. Cheer up another child who is crying or upset?
23. Call another child names or make fun of them because you want to upset them?
24. Threaten to hurt another child in your class if they don’t do something?