Examining the Psychometric Properties of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire in Iranian Adolescents

Cyberbullying has harmful legal and psychological consequences for adolescents, which can cause a serious disturbance in their development. Therefore, it is important to validate reliable measurement tools in order to identify it as early as possible and determine the factors affecting it. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the European Cyberbullying Intervention Project Questionnaire (ECIPQ) in Iranian adolescents.

The current research was a descriptive study that was conducted among 291 high school students in Ahvaz, Iran. The samples were selected by a multi-stage random method and responded to ECIPQ. The reliability of the questionnaire was determined by Cronbach's alpha, Spearman-Brown split-half, and Guttman correlation coefficient, and its validity and factor structure were determined by construct and concurrent validity methods in SPSS and Amos software.

There were 142 (48.8%) male students and 149 (51.2%) female students with an average and standard deviation (SD) of age of 15.61 ± 1.72 years. Cronbach's alpha, Spearman-Brown split-half, and Guttman correlation coefficients for the whole questionnaire were 0.88, 0.82, and 0.86, respectively. The results of confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) showed that the ECIPQ measurement model had a relatively good fit, and its 2-factor structure was confirmed [comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.92, goodness of fit index (GFI) = 0.91, and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.078]. The concurrent validity of the bullying and victim factors of this questionnaire was also confirmed by correlating its items with the items of the Cyber-Aggression Questionnaire for Adolescents (CYBA) and the Bullying in School Scale (BS) (P < 0.05).

ECIPQ is a valid and reliable questionnaire for measuring cyberbullying in two dimensions of bullying and victimization among Iranian adolescents.