Psychometric Properties of a Scale to Assess the SocialSkills Difficulties Related to Victimization

Abstract

Objective.
Determine the psychometric properties of a scale to measure social skills difficulties in handling
peer aggression.
Method
. 502 Mexican students participated in the study of which 279 were boys (
M
= 10.52,
DE
= 1.13 years) and 223 girls (
M
= 10.81,
DE
= 1.25 years). The study compared the empirical adjustment
of two measurement models (one-dimensional and two-dimensional) to measure social skills difficulties
associated with victimization by peers and establish evidence of concurrent validity of the scale to investigate
the relationship of their scores with reports of victimization.
Results.
It was found that the measurement model
comprised of two dimensions (vulnerability and passivity) has better indicators of adjustment (
X
2
= 36.60,
df
=19,
p
= 0.009;
X
2
/df
= 1.92;
CFI
= 0.98;
AGFI
= 0.96;
RMSEA
= 0.04 CI 90 [0.02 - 0.06];
SRMR
= 0.04;
AIC
= 70.60) with respect to a dimension for both (
X
2
= 290.42,
df
= 20,
p
= 0.000;
X
2
/df
= 15.27;
CFI
= 0.48;
AGFI
= 0.75;
RMSEA
= 0.27 CI 90 [0.20 - 0.25];
SRMR
= 0,16;
AIC
= 337,42). The difficulties in developing social
skills explain a significant part of the variance of the reports of victimization of both students (men:
R
2
= 0.20,
f
2
=
0.25; women:
R
2
= 0.24,
f
2
=
0.32).
Conclusion
. The scale has psychometric properties that allow its use in
measuring social skills difficulties to face peer aggression.