Using Item Response Theory to Understand Youth Aggression: A Gendered Approach

• In Event: Can we Enhance Youth Justice and Policing through Assessment and Measuring Perceptions?

Abstract

Objective: Research has consistently found that girls are more likely to engage in relational aggression, while boys are more likely to engage in physical aggression. Therefore, general measures of aggression may be less informative in regards to predicting youth conduct problems than more specific subscales. Methods: This study uses data from the Helping Improve Pathways to Success (N=2,067) and IRT methods to develop scales for differing conceptualizations of aggression – a general measure, as well as a three factor model with physical, relational, and verbal aggression. These measures are then tested for differential item functioning, as well as how they relate to other relevant scales such as anger and conduct problems. Results: Preliminary results found that subscales of aggression do not show evidence of DIF, while the general scale does. Consistent with prior research, girls engage in more relational aggression, and boys engage in more physical aggression. Conclusions: Results from this study will inform a gendered approach to measuring aggression, allowing researchers a more nuanced understanding of how aggression relates to other externalizing problems for both boys and girls.

Authors

• Savanna Allen, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University

• Dustin Pardini, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University