Psychometric Properties of the Cyber-aggression Questionnaire for Adolescents (CYBA)

Cybercrime is a growing and worrisome problem, particularly when it involves minors. Cyberaggression among adolescents in particular can result in negative legal and psychological consequences for the people involved. Therefore, it is important to have instruments to detect these incidents early and understand the problem to propose effective measures for prevention and treatment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Cyber-Aggression Questionnaire for Adolescents (CYBA). In this descriptive-survey study, among the girl and boy students of the second grade of high school in Ahvaz in the academic year 2018-19, a sample of 300 students was selected by multi-stage random sampling method (stratified) and answered the questionnaire of the Cyber-Aggression Questionnaire for Adolescents (Álvarez-García et al., 2016). The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by Cronbach's alpha, Spearman-Brown split-half, and Guttman methods, and its validity and factor structure were determined by construct validity and concurrent validity methods. Cronbach's alpha coefficients, Spearman-Brown split-half and Guttman correlation for the whole questionnaire were 0.94, 0.94, and 0.93, respectively. The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the model of measuring cyber-aggression for adolescents has good fitness and its 4-factor structure was confirmed (CFI=0.86, GFI=0.85, and RMSEA=0.079). The concurrent validity of this questionnaire was also confirmed by correlating its items with the items of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIPQ) and the Bullying in School Scale (BS) (p<0.05). Therefore, the CYBA offers a valid and reliable measure of cyber aggression in adolescents.