Evaluation of students’ social ability: Greek version of checklists for aggressive behaviour and social insecurity in elementary education

Abstract

The school environment plays an important role in children’s socialization. The present report was concerned with the study of aggressive behaviour and social insecurity among elementary school students in Greece. For this purpose, Petermann and Petermann’s (2001; 2003) checklists for structured observation of aggressive behaviour (Checklist of Aggressive Behaviour; CAB) and social insecurity (Checklist of Social Insecure Behaviour; CSIB) were used. The primary aim was to examine the psychometric characteristics of the Greek versions of CAB and CSIB. Overall, 500 Greek elementary school students (M age = 9.46 ± 1.7) participated in the study. Students’ social behaviour was evaluated by their teachers. Confirmatory factor analysis results showed adequate factorial structure for both checklists, the χ2 was significant, and absolute and incremental fit indices were at acceptable levels. Internal consistency coefficients were also at satisfactory and acceptable levels. The analysis of correlation provided evidence on the construct validity of the checklists. No gender differences were found in all aspects of aggressive and socially insecure behaviours. The findings of the study provide initial evidence on the validity and reliability of the checklists and imply that they are valuable instruments for the assessment of aggression and social insecurity in the school context.