Validity and reliability of traditional and cyberbullying victimisation scale: Findings from a school-based survey in urban areas of Hanoi and Hai Duong

Bullying victimization is associated with mental health of adolescents. The purpose of this study is to develop a reliable and valid scale, which determines victimization behaviours (including traditional and cyber bullying victimization) among school students. A total of 1,424 adolescents (54.9% female, mean age = 14.7, SD= 1.9) enrolled in two middle and two high schools in Hanoi and Hai Duong province completed self-administered questionnaires in 2014. Results of principal component analysis indicated that two factors emerged which accounted for 58.0% of the total variance. For predictive validity, results showed high correlations between mean score of victimization and gender, age, depressive syndromes, psychological distress, and suicidal ideation. Internal consistency coefficients for reliability of cyberbullying victimization and traditional bullying victimization subscales were 0.92 and 0.73 respectively, and 0.85 for the whole scale. Results demonstrate the traditional and cyberbullying victimization scale is a valid and reliable instrument