The Need for NAEP to Measure Bullying: Is a Single Item Enough?

• In Event: Deeper Insights Through NAEP Innovation

Abstract

Using data from the 2013 School Crime Supplement, this study investigates the feasibility of measuring bullying with a single item on the NAEP background questionnaire. Two hypotheses were tested: (1) A single-factor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), will produce a model with acceptable fit and all items will load saliently onto a unified factor. (2) CFA will find that a two-factor model separating the traditional and cyberbullying will demonstrate worse fit. Although the single-factor model was acceptable, the two-factor model fit better. These findings suggest that victimization is a multifaceted construct, with cyber victimization being distinct from traditional bullying. This emphasizes the importance of using multiple items to accurately measure bullying in large-scale assessments such as NAEP.

Author

• Anthony Betancourt, University of Scranton