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Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Beliefs, and Behaviors Among Youth: A Compendium of Assessment Tools

NCJ Number
186028
Author(s)
Linda L. Dahlberg Ph.D.; Susan B. Toal MPH; Christopher B. Behrens M.D.
Date Published
1998
Length
273 pages
Annotation
This compendium provides researchers and prevention specialists with a set of more than 100 evaluation measures to assess programs to prevent youth violence.
Abstract
Most of the measures are intended for use with youths between ages of 11 and 20 years, to assess a variety of factors, including attitudes toward violence, aggressive behavior, conflict resolution strategies, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and exposure to violence. The compendium also contains scales and assessments developed for use with children between ages 5 and 10 years, to measure factors that include aggressive fantasies, beliefs supportive of aggression, attributional biases, prosocial behavior, and aggressive behavior. The tools also include parent and teacher versions of some assessments. The introduction explains why outcome evaluations are important and includes guidance on how to conduct such evaluations. The manual’s four sections cover four types of assessments: (1) attitude and belief assessments; (2) psychosocial and cognitive assessments; (3) behavior assessments; and (4) environmental assessments. Each section contains a description of the measures, including the constructs being measured, the characteristics of the scale or assessment, the target groups with which the assessment has been tested, reliability and validity information, and the persons responsible for developing the scale or assessment. Each section also provides the items that make up each assessment, response categories, and guidance on scoring and analysis. Charts and reference lists