TThhee UUnniivveerrssiittyy ooff SSoouutthheerrnn MMiissssiissssiippppii TThhee AAqquuiillaa DDiiggiittaall CCoommmmuunniittyy Dissertations Summer 8-1-2017 VVaalliiddaattiioonn ooff tthhee YYoouunngg AAdduulltt RReellaattiioonnaall AAggggrreessssiioonn SSccaallee Caitlin M. Clark University of Southern Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations Part of the Personality and Social Contexts Commons RReeccoommmmeennddeedd CCiittaattiioonn Clark, Caitlin M., "Validation of the Young Adult Relational Aggression Scale" (2017). Dissertations. 1428. https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1428 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by The Aquila Digital Community. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of The Aquila Digital Community. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VALIDATION OF THE YOUNG ADULT RELATIONAL AGGRESSION SCALE by Caitlin M. Clark A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate School, the College of Education and Psychology, and the Department of Psychology at The University of Southern Mississippi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2017 VALIDATION OF THE YOUNG ADULT RELATIONAL AGGRESSION SCALE by Caitlin M. Clark August 2017 Approved by: ________________________________________________ Dr. Eric R. Dahlen, Major Professor Associate Professor, Psychology ________________________________________________ Dr. Emily Bullock Yowell, Committee Member Associate Professor, Psychology ________________________________________________ Dr. Michael B. Madson, Committee Member Associate Professor, Psychology ________________________________________________ Dr. Richard Mohn, Committee Member Associate Professor, Educational Research and Administration ________________________________________________ Dr. Karen S. Coats Dean of the Graduate School COPYRIGHT BY Caitlin M. Clark 2017 Published by the Graduate School ABSTRACT VALIDATION OF THE YOUNG ADULT RELATIONAL AGGRESSION SCALE by Caitlin M. Clark August 2017 Relational aggression has been associated with a host of negative correlates in previous studies of children, adolescents, and emerging adults. Further research is necessary for the purposes of identifying prevention and intervention strategies; however, research on relational aggression among emerging adults has been complicated by the lack of available psychometrically sound measures, particularly those that capture the proactive and reactive functions of relational aggression. The present study extended previous efforts to develop a new self-report measure of relational aggression for emerging adults called the Young Adult Relational Aggression Scale (YARAS). A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed using a sample of 402 college students. The predicted four-factor model of the YARAS was supported, though model re-specification was necessary to achieve adequate model fit. Adequate internal consistency was found for all scales. Evidence in support of convergent and discriminant validity was obtained through correlations of the YARAS scales with measures of theoretically related (i.e., alcohol-related problems, internalizing problems, psychopathy, and loneliness) and distinct constructs (e.g., physical aggression). The extent to which the YARAS adequately discriminates the reactive and proactive functions of aggression warrants additional study. Future directions for the development of the YARAS are discussed. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to acknowledge Dr. Eric Dahlen for his guidance and support throughout this project. I would further like to thank Dr. Emily Yowell, Dr. Michael Madson, and Dr. Richard Mohn for their valuable input. Finally, I would like to acknowledge Mallory McCann for her help in the initial item-development portion of this project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ........................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I – INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................... 1 Forms of Aggression ....................................................................................................... 6 Functions of Aggression ................................................................................................. 8 Adverse Correlates of Relational Aggression ............................................................... 11 Relational Aggression in Late Adolescents and Emerging Adults ............................... 13 Correlates of Reactive and Proactive Relational Aggression ....................................... 23 Inconsistencies in the Literature ................................................................................... 26 Measurement of Relational Aggression in Emerging Adults ....................................... 29 Development of a New Measure ................................................................................... 43 Reactive Relational Aggression ................................................................................ 49 Proactive Relational Aggression ............................................................................... 50 The Present Study ......................................................................................................... 53 Research Questions and Hypotheses ........................................................................ 54 CHAPTER II – METHODS ............................................................................................. 57 Instruments .................................................................................................................... 57 iv Demographic Questionnaire. ................................................................................ 57 Young Adult Relational Aggression Scale (YARAS). ......................................... 57 Self-Report of Aggression and Social Behavior Measure (SRASBM). ............... 58 Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index (RAPI). .............................................................. 59 Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP). .............................................. 59 UCLA Loneliness Scale. ....................................................................................... 60 Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21. ........................................................... 60 Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ). ........................................................ 61 Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 62 CHAPTER III – RESULTS .............................................................................................. 64 Data Screening .............................................................................................................. 64 Confirmatory Factor Analysis ....................................................................................... 64 Confirmatory Factor Analysis Fit Statistics (N = 402) ............................................. 67 Bivariate Correlations ................................................................................................... 72 CHAPTER IV – DISCUSSION........................................................................................ 83 Factor Structure ............................................................................................................. 84 Convergent and Discriminant Validity ......................................................................... 87 Limitations and Future Directions ................................................................................ 91 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 95 APPENDIX A – TABLES ................................................................................................ 96 v APPENDIX B – FIGURE ............................................................................................... 105 APPENDIX C – MEASURES ........................................................................................ 106 APPENDIX D – DEMOGRAPHIC FORM ................................................................... 116 APPENDIX E – CONSENT FORM A ........................................................................... 118 APPENDIX F – CONSENT FORM B ........................................................................... 120 APPENDIX G – IRB Approval Letter ............................................................................ 122 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................... 123 vi LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Confirmatory Factor Analysis Fit Statistics (N = 402)) ...................................... 66 Table 2 Item Pairs with Correlated Error Terms .............................................................. 69 Table 3 Range of Scores, Means, Standard Deviations, and Alpha Coefficients (N= 402) ........................................................................................................................................... 71 Table 4 Intercorrelations Among the YARAS Scales and SRASBM Scales (N = 402) .. 73 Table 5 Intercorrelations Among the YARAS and Related Variables (N = 402) ............ 77 Table 6 Intercorrelations Among Raw and Residualized Scores of YARAS, LSRP, and AQ Scales (N = 402) ......................................................................................................... 81 Table A1. The Original Item Pool of the YARAS............................................................ 96 Table A2. Initial Eigenvalues and Explained Variance from a Principle Components Analysis of the 21 Reactive Items .................................................................................... 98 Table A3. Component Loadings for the Reactive Relational Aggression From the Rotated Pattern Matrix: Principal Components Analysis With Direct Oblimin Rotation ............. 99 Table A4. Internal Consistencies and Item-Total Correlations for the Two Reactive Relational Aggression Components Extracted ............................................................... 100 Table A5. Initial Eigenvalues and Explained Variance from a Principal Components Analysis of the 21 Proactive Relational Aggression Items ............................................. 101 Table A6. Components Loadings for the Proactive Relational Aggression From the Rotated Pattern Matrix: Principle Components Analysis With Direct Oblimin Rotation ......................................................................................................................................... 102 Table A7. Internal Consistencies and Item-Total Correlations for the Two Proactive Relational Aggression Components Extracted ............................................................... 104 vii