Setting the Record Straight

Abstract

The “Setting the Record Straight” instrument, developed by Neil F. Gottheil and Eric F. Dubow in 2001, is a specialized psychological scale designed to provide a nuanced assessment of peer interaction dynamics within school environments. The scale measures two primary behavioral indices: engagement in Bullying behavior and experience of Victimization.

A distinctive feature of this 30-item measure is its dual-reporting structure. It assesses a student’s direct experiences (Self-report) alongside their subjective belief about how their classmates perceive them (Perceived Peer Perception). By capturing this divergence between internal experience and perceived social reality, the scale offers critical insights for clinical assessment and preventative interventions targeting relational aggression and school violence.

Keywords

Bullying, Victimization, Peer Perception, Self-Report, Relational Aggression, School Psychology, Social Dynamics, Tripartite Beliefs Model.

Authors

Neil F. Gottheil, Eric F. Dubow

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Purpose

The fundamental purpose of the Setting the Record Straight instrument is the systematic assessment of bullying and victimization prevalence among youth populations. It serves as a diagnostic tool to understand not just the behaviors themselves, but the individual’s interpretation of their social standing. The scale is specifically designed to evaluate the congruence or discrepancy between a child’s actual behavior and their perceived social reputation among peers.

This dual assessment framework is crucial for researchers and clinicians aiming to identify complex bully-victim profiles, such as those who engage in aggressive acts but genuinely perceive themselves as victims. By clarifying the interplay between internal experience and external social reality, the scale contributes to a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of complex social roles in the school setting.

Construct

The instrument operationalizes the measurement of bully-victim status by intersecting two core psychological constructs with two distinct measurement dimensions, yielding four measurable subscales:

• Behavioral Constructs:
• Bullying: Measures the frequency and extent of the respondent’s engagement in aggressive, hostile, or dominant behaviors directed towards peers.
• Victimization: Measures the frequency and extent to which the respondent is targeted by peers through physical, verbal, or relational aggression.
• Reporting Dimensions:
• Self-report: The respondent’s direct, subjective account of their own behavior or experiences (e.g., “I get called names by other kids”).
• Perceived Peer Perception: The respondent’s metacognitive belief about how their classmates view their behavior or experiences (e.g., “My classmates probably think that I get called names by other kids”).

Validity

Evidence supporting the scale’s Validity is primarily documented in the original academic publications by Gottheil and Dubow (2001a, 2001b). The development process was theoretically driven, focusing on the need for an instrument capable of differentiating between various behavioral indices of bully/victim status, thereby supporting strong theoretical and construct validity.

The authors utilized this specific measurement framework to empirically test the “Tripartite beliefs model of bully and victim behavior.” This underlying theoretical support inherently strengthens the scale’s construct validity, demonstrating that self-reported behaviors and perceived peer reputation are distinct, yet highly interrelated, dimensions critical to assessing social behavior and relational dynamics.

Reliability

While the source material does not provide specific coefficients such as Cronbach’s alpha or test-retest reliability figures, the scale’s utility is supported by its consistent use in peer-reviewed research, notably appearing in the Journal of Emotional Abuse. For the instrument to maintain psychometric soundness, the four derived subscales (Self-report Bully, Self-report Victim, Perceived Bully, and Perceived Victim) would necessitate high levels of internal consistency, details of which are expected to be available in the original validation studies.

Factor Analysis

The explicit structure of the Setting the Record Straight instrument, which divides items into four distinct subscales, strongly implies that factor analytic techniques were employed during its development. This process likely identified two core behavioral factors (Bullying and Victimization) and two orthogonal reporting factors (Self-report and Perceived Peer Perception).

The clear allocation of items to these four resulting components confirms that the developers ensured the scale measures distinct psychological constructs related to the overall dimension of bully-victim behavior, achieving structural clarity and measurement efficiency.

Instrument

Test Type: Behavioral Index Scale / Self-Report Questionnaire

Format: 30-item dichotomous response format (True/False).

Language Available: English

Population Group: School-aged children and adolescents.

Age Group: Typically utilized with elementary and middle school populations.

Population Details: The scale is specifically designed for use in school settings for the screening and assessment of students involved in peer aggression and victimization dynamics.

Test Methodology: The scale uses a Self-report methodology combined with the assessment of perceived social reality. Scoring is dichotomous: True responses are assigned 1 point, and False responses are assigned 0 points.

Subscale Scoring Breakdown:

• Self-report Victimization subscale: Items 2, 4, 6, 10, 14, 16, 18, 22, 24, and 30
• Self-report Bully subscale: Items 8, 12, 20, 26, and 28
• Perceived peer perception Victimization subscale: Items 1, 3, 5, 9, 13, 15, 17, 21, 23, and 29
• Perceived peer perception Bully subscale: Items 7, 11, 19, 25, and 27

Keywords

Peer relations, aggression, assessment tool, school violence, psychometrics, relational aggression, Tripartite beliefs model, social reputation, emotional abuse.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: N/A

Affiliation Email addresses: [email protected] (Neil Gottheil)

Correspondence Address: Neil Gottheil, PhD, School of Psychology, Psychology Services, Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, 401 Smyth Road, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K1H 8L1. Tel: 613-737-7600, ext. 3264

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Setting the Record Straight instrument was published in 2001. Copyright ownership is held by The Haworth Press Inc., which is now part of the Taylor & Francis Group. Reproduction or large-scale use of the scale is strictly prohibited without obtaining specific permission from the publisher, indicating potential fees or licensing requirements for non-academic applications.

The instrument is also compiled in a governmental resource guide dedicated to measuring peer aggression. The original PDF compendium, “Measuring Bullying Victimization, Perpetration, and Bystander Experiences: A Compendium of Assessment Tools,” which includes this instrument on pages 64-65, can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/bullycompendiumbk-a.pdf

Reference’s

Gottheil, N. F., & Dubow, E. F. (2001a). The interrelationships of behavioral indices of bully and victim behavior. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 2, 75–93.

Gottheil, N. F., & Dubow, E. F. (2001b). Tripartite beliefs model of bully and victim behavior. Journal of Emotional Abuse, 2, 25–47.

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Items of the Setting the Record Straight

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

1. My classmates probably think that kids make fun of me.
2. Kids make fun of me.
3. My classmates probably think that I get beat up.
4. I get beat up.
5. My classmates probably think that I get called names by other kids.
6. I get called names by other kids.
7. My classmates probably think that I make fun of people.
8. I make fun of people.
9. My classmates probably think that kids do mean things to me.
10. Kids do mean things to me.
11. My classmates probably think that I hit and push others around.
12. I hit and push others around.
13. My classmates probably think that I get picked on by other kids.
14. I get picked on by other kids.
15. My classmates probably think that I get hit and pushed by other kids.
16. I get hit and pushed by other kids.
17. My classmates probably think that kids try to hurt my feelings.
18. Kids try to hurt my feelings.
19. My classmates probably think that if someone gets in my way I will shove them out of the way.
20. If someone gets in my way I will shove them out of the way.
21. My classmates probably think that when I get picked on I don’t like to fight back.
22. When I get picked on I don’t like to fight back.
23. My classmates probably think that I get teased a lot.
24. I get teased a lot.
25. My classmates probably think that there are certain kids I like to bother.
26. There are certain kids I like to bother.
27. My classmates probably think that I can beat everyone up.
28. I can beat everyone up.
29. My classmates probably think that I don’t defend myself.
30. I don’t defend myself.