Introduction
Aggression among school children is a commonly studied and discussed top in the media.
| Aggression is not nice, but according to a new study, aggression is normal human behavior that is part of normal development, at least in boys (Isen et al., 2015). |
One way to measure aggressive behavior at school is the aggression scale developed by Pamela Orpinas and Ralph Frankowski (2001).
This short 11-item scale was developed in Texas for children in US middle school.
The scale ranges from 0 to 66. Boys scored 19.3 and girls 13.2.
| See also the PsyToolkit implementation of the Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire |
Run the demo
Legal stuff
The scale and items were presented in a journal and seemingly can be used by anyone for research purposes.
Technically
This is a very straigtforward scale. Note that custom scores (starting with 0) are used in the scale. These scores are given in curley brackets (e.g., {score=2}).
The survey code for PsyToolkit
scale: times
- {score=0} never
- {score=1} 1 time
- {score=2} 2 times
- {score=3} 3 times
- {score=4} 4 times
- {score=5} 5 times
- {score=6} 6 times or more
l: aggression
t: scale times
q: Please answer the following questions thinking of<br>
what you actually did <b>during the last 7 days.</b><br><br>
For each question, answer how many times you did that behavior <b>during
the last 7 days.</b><br>
- I teased students to make them angry.
- I got angry very easily with someone.
- I fought back when someone hit me first.
- I said things about other kids to make other students laugh.
- I encouraged other students to fight.
- I pushed or shoved other students.
- I was angry most of the day.
- I got into a physical fight because I was angry.
- I slapped or kicked someone.
- I called other students bad names.
- I threatened to hurt or to hit someone.
l: aggressionscore
t: set
- sum $aggression
l: feedback
t: info
q: Your aggression score is {$aggressionscore} on a range from 0 to 66.<br>
In the original study developing the scale, the following averages were found:<br>
<ul>
<li>Boys: 19.3
<li>Girls: 13.2
</ul>
References
-
Orpinas, P., and Frankowski, R. (2001). The Aggression Scale: A Self-Report Measure of Aggressive Behavior for Young Adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 21, 50-67.
-
Isen, J.D., McGue, M.K., and Iacono, W.G. (2015). Aggressive-antisocial boys develop into physically strong young men. Psychological Science, in press, but online.