Children’s Action Tendency Scale (CATS)

Abstract

The Children’s Action Tendency Scale (CATS) is a psychological scale developed by Robert H. Deluty to quantify children’s preferred behavioral responses when faced with interpersonal conflict or provocation. This instrument utilizes a forced-choice self-report measure format, presenting children with hypothetical scenarios and requiring them to choose between three distinct reaction types: aggressiveness, assertiveness, and submissiveness. The scale is widely used in clinical and developmental psychology research to assess social competence and inform interventions related to conflict resolution and behavioral adjustment in school-aged children.

Keywords

Aggressiveness, Assertiveness, Submissiveness, Children, Conflict resolution, Social skills, Behavioral assessment, Self-report

Authors

Robert H. Deluty

Purpose

The primary purpose of the Children’s Action Tendency Scale (CATS) is to provide a standardized, psychometrically sound instrument capable of differentiating between three fundamental social behavioral styles—aggressive, assertive, and submissive—in children. It aims to measure the relative strength of a child’s inclination toward each of these response patterns when encountering frustrating or challenging social situations involving peers or authority figures.

By quantifying these tendencies, the CATS allows researchers and clinicians to identify children who may benefit from social skills training programs designed to enhance adaptive behaviors, such as assertiveness, while mitigating maladaptive responses like aggression or passive submissiveness.

Construct

The CATS measures three independent, yet often competing, behavioral constructs related to conflict management and interpersonal style:

• Aggressiveness (Agg): Defined as a response characterized by hostility, verbal abuse, physical confrontation, or attempts to dominate or harm others, often violating the rights of others.
• Assertiveness (As): Defined as the appropriate and direct expression of one’s feelings, opinions, and rights without violating the rights of others. This is viewed as the most adaptive response style.
• Submissiveness (Sub): Defined as a passive response characterized by yielding to the demands of others, avoiding conflict, withdrawing, or failing to express one’s legitimate rights or feelings.

The scale structure ensures that each scenario presents a forced choice among these three options, thus assessing the child’s relative preference for each behavioral tendency in response to specific provocations.

Validity

The validity of the CATS has been extensively documented through the original research by Deluty (1979, 1984).

• Construct Validity: Factor analytic studies support the hypothesized three-factor structure, confirming that the scale successfully measures three distinct dimensions: aggressiveness, assertiveness, and submissiveness.
• Criterion-Related Validity: Studies have shown that CATS scores correlate predictably with external criteria, such as teacher ratings of children’s behavior and peer nominations of aggressive or assertive children.
• Behavioral Validation: Deluty (1984) provided strong behavioral validation, demonstrating that children who scored high on the aggressiveness subscale, for example, exhibited more aggressive behaviors in observed, real-life conflict situations than those who scored high on the assertiveness subscale.

Reliability

The CATS demonstrates satisfactory internal consistency and stability, confirming its reliability as a measure of action tendencies in children.

• Internal Consistency: The three subscales typically exhibit acceptable internal consistency, measured using coefficients such as Cronbach’s alpha, indicating that items within each subscale reliably measure the same underlying construct.
• Test-Retest Reliability: Studies have demonstrated moderate to high stability of scores over short intervals, suggesting that the measured behavioral tendencies are consistent traits rather than temporary states.

Factor Analysis

The development of the CATS was supported by factor analysis confirming a robust tripartite structure. The scale items consistently load onto three separate and uncorrelated factors corresponding precisely to the theoretical constructs of aggressiveness, assertiveness, and submissiveness. This distinct factor structure underscores the utility of the CATS in measuring these three behavioral dimensions independently, distinguishing it from measures that treat aggression and submissiveness merely as the absence of assertiveness.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report, Situational Forced-Choice Inventory

Format: 13 hypothetical conflict scenarios, each followed by three forced-choice options, structured as three paired comparisons (Agg vs. Sub, Agg vs. As, As vs. Sub).

Language Available: English (Original)

Population Group: School-aged children

Age Group: Typically 6 to 12 years (Elementary school age)

Population Details: Developed primarily using samples of children in educational settings.

Test Methodology: Children read or are read 13 vignettes describing common social conflicts. For each scenario, they choose the response that best describes what they would do. Scores are calculated for the three independent scales (Aggressiveness, Assertiveness, Submissiveness). The instrument can be found in sourcebooks like Fischer and Corcoran (2007). The original instrument content, likely a PDF, can be downloaded here: https://ujcontent.uj.ac.za/vital/access/services/Download/uj:11231/CONTENT1

Keywords

Social behavior, Child psychology, Conflict management, Deluty, Behavioral tendencies, Interpersonal skills, Peer relations

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not specified in the source content.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not specified in the source content.

Correspondence Address: Not specified in the source content.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original scale was published in 1979. Permissions for use generally require standard academic citation of the original source (Deluty, 1979). For clinical or commercial use, users should consult the original author or the publisher of subsequent test sourcebooks (e.g., Oxford University Press). The scale is often utilized freely for academic research purposes.

Reference’s

• Deluty, Robert H. (1979). Children’s Action Tendency Scale: A self-report measure of aggressiveness, assertiveness, and submissiveness in children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47(6), 1061-1071.
• Deluty, Robert H. (1984). Behavioral validation of the Children’s Action Tendency Scale. Journal of behavioral assessment, 6(2), 115–130.
• Deluty, R. H. (1981). Assertiveness in children: Some research considerations. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 10, 149–155.
• Deluty, R. H. (1981). Adaptiveness of aggressive, assertive, and submissive behavior for children. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 10, 155–158.
• Deluty, R. H. (1983). Children’s evaluations of aggressive, assertive, and submissive responses. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology, 12(2), 124-129.
• Deluty, R. H. (1985). Cognitive mediation of aggressive, assertive, and submissive behavior in children. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 8, 355-369.
• Deluty, R. H. (1979). Children’s Action Tendency Scale (CATS). In Fischer, Joel., Corcoran, Kevin J. (2007). Measures for Clinical Practice and research: A sourcebook. (4th ed.). NY: Oxford University Pr. Vol. 1, Page(s): 460-463.

Items of the Children’s Action Tendency Scale (CATS)

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. You’re playing a game with your friends. You try your very best but you keep making mistakes. Your friends start teasing you and calling you names. What would you do?

a.    Punch the kid who’s teasing me the most. OR (Agg)

b.    Quit the game and come home. (Sub)

a.    Tell them to stop because you wouldn’t like it if I did it to them (As). OR

b.    Punch the kid whose me the most.

a.    Quit the game and come home. OR

b.    Tell them to stop because they wouldn’t like it if I did it to them.

2. You and a friend are playing in your house. Your friend makes a big mess‚ but your parents blame you and punish you. What would you do?

a.    Ask my friend to help me clean up the mess. OR (As)

b.    Refuse to talk or listen to my parents the next day. (Agg)

a.    Clean up the mess. OR (Sub)

b.    Ask my friend to help me clean up the mess.

a.    Refuse to talk to or listen to my parents the next day. OR

b.    Clean up the mess.

3. One morning before class‚ friends come over to you and as it they can copy your homework. They tell you that if you give them your answers‚ they’ll tell everyone that you’re really mean. What would you do?

a.    Tell them to do their own work. OR  (As)

b.    Give them the answers  (Sub)

a.    Tell them that I’ll tell everyone they’re a cheater. OR (Agg)

b.    Tell them to do their own work.

a.    Give them the answers. OR

b.    Tell them that I’ll tell everyone they’re a cheater

4. You’re standing in line for a drink of water. A kid your age and size walks over and just shoves you out of line. What would you do?

a.    Push the kid back out of line. OR (Agg)

b.    Tell them‚ “You’ve no right to do that.” (As)

a.    I’d go to the end of the line. OR  (Sub)

b.    Push the kid back out of line.

a.    Tell them‚ “You’ve no right to do that!” OR

b.    I’d go to the end of the line.

5. You lend a friend your favorite book. A few days later it is returned‚ but some of the pages are torn and the cover is dirty and bent out of shape. What would you do?

a.    Ask my friend‚ How did it happen? OR (As)

b.    Call the kid names. (Agg)

a.    Ignore it. OR (Sub)

b.    Ask my friend‚ How did it happen?

a.    Call the kid names. OR

b.    Ignore it.

6. You’re coming out of school. A kid who is smaller and younger than you are throws a snowball right at your head. What would you do?

a.    Beat the kid up. OR  (Agg)

b.    Ignore it. (Sub)

a.    Tell the kid that throwing things at someone’s head is very dangerous. (As) OR

b.    Beat the kid up.

a.    Ignore it. OR

b.    Tell the kid that throwing things at someone’s head is very dangerous.

7. You see some kids playing a game. You walk over and ask if you can join. They tell you that you can’t play with them because you’re not good enough. What would you do?

a.    Ask them to give me a chance. OR  (As)

b.    Walk away‚ feeling hurt. (Sub)

a.    Interfere with their game so that they won’t be able to play. OR  (Agg)

b.    Ask them to give me a chance.

a.    Walk away‚ feeling hurt. OR

b.    Interfere with their game so that they won’t be able to play.

8. You’re watching a really terrific show on television. In the middle of the show‚ your parents tell you that it’s time for bed and turn off the T.V. What would you do?

a.    Scream at them‚ “I don’t want to!” OR  (Agg)

b.    Start crying. (Sub)

a.    Promise to go to bed early tomorrow night if they let me stay up late tonight. (As) OR

b.    Scream at them‚ “I don’t want to!”

a.    Start crying. OR

b.    Promise to go to bed early tomorrow night if they let me stay up late tonight.

9. You’re ha‎ving lunch in the cafeteria. Your friend has a big bag of delicious chocolates for dessert. You ask if you can have just one‚ but your friend says “No.” What would you do?

a.    Offer to trade something of mine for the chocolate. OR  (As)

b.    Call the kid mean and selfish. (Agg)

a.    Forget about it and continue eating my lunch. OR (Sub)

b.    Offer to trade something of mine for the chocolate.

a.    Call the kid mean and selfish. OR

b.    Forget about it and continue eating my lunch.

10. A kid in your class brags that they’re much smarter than you. However‚ you know for sure that the kid is wrong and that you’re really smarter. What would you do?

a.    Tell the kid to shut up. OR (Agg)

b.    Suggest that we ask each other questions to find out who is smarter. (As)

a.    Ignore the kid and just walk away. OR (Sub)

b.    Tell the kid to shut up.

a.    Suggest that we ask each other questions to find out who is smarter. OR

b.    Ignore the kid and just walk away.

11. You and another kid are playing a game. The winner of the game will win a really nice prize. You try very hard‚ but lose by just one point. What would you do?

a.    Tell the kid that they cheated. OR

b.    Practice‚ so I’ll win the next time. (As)

a.    Go home and cry. OR (Sub)

b.    Tell the kid that they cheated.

a.    Practice so I’ll win the next time. OR

b.    Go home and cry.

12. One of your parents does something which really bugs you. They know that it bugs you‚ but they just ignore how you feel and keep doing it anyway. What would you do?

a.    Get back at them by doing something that bugs them. OR (Agg)

b.    Tell them that they are bugging me. (As)

a.    Try to ignore it. OR (Sub)

b.    Get back at them by doing something that bugs them.

a.    Tell them that they are bugging me. OR

b.    Try to ignore it.

13. You’re playing with a friend in your house and you’re making a lot of noise. Your parents get really angry and start yelling at you for making so much noise. What would you do?

a.    Find something else to do. OR (Sub)

b.    Ignore their yelling and continue to make a noise. (Agg)

a.    Tell them. “I’m sorry‚ but I can’t play the game without making a noise. OR (As)

b.    Find something else to do.

a.    Ignore their yelling and continue to make a noise. OR

b.    Tell them. “I’m sorry‚ but I can’t play the game without making a noise.