Proposal for a short version of an international questionnaire to detect bullying: adaptation to Argentine Spanish language and exploratory factor analysis.

INTRODUCTION

Bullying encompasses intentional intimidation, abuse, and physical or psychological harassment behaviors by a student (bully) against another student (victim) repeatedly. It includes physical and verbal abuse, social exclusion, and cyberbullying. Victims miss school more often and have a higher risk for somatic symptoms, anxiety, depression, and suicide. Although the Adolescent Peer Relations Instrument (APRI) is a bullying screening questionnaire (19 items) validated in Spain in 2016, there was no validated instrument available in Argentina.

OBJECTIVE

To obtain a short version adapted to Argentine Spanish of the APRI.

POPULATION AND METHOD: The APRI, a questionnaire to screen for bullying among adolescents, was cross-culturally adapted to Argentine Spanish language and then questionnaire items were reduced by a mathematical process (exploratory factor analysis) and a conceptual process (expert committee). Participants were adolescents aged 13-17 years who were attending secondary public schools in the city of Boulogne Sur Mer, San Isidro, province of Buenos Aires.

RESULTS

A short questionnaire version made up of 14 items divided into 2 dimensions (physical abuse and social and verbal victimization) was obtained.

CONCLUSIONS

The resulting short questionnaire is semantically equivalent to the original version and also has adequate apparent and content validity.