General Information

The Normative Beliefs about Aggression Scale measures a child's, adolescent's, or young adult's perception of acceptable aggressive behavior both under a variety of conditions of provocation and when no conditions are specified.

Number of Versions:	1
Version:	Normative Beliefs about Aggression Scale
Author(s):	L. Rowell Huesmann, Nancy G. Guerra, L. Miller, & A. Zelli
Date of Publication:	1989
Material(s) Needed for Test:	Instrument
Manual:	Available
Charge for one form or kit:	No

Purpose and Nature of Test

Construct(s) Measured:	Beliefs about appropriateness of aggression.
Population for which designed:	Age Range: 6 through 30 years old
Method of Administration:	Group and Individual
Source of Information:	Self
Subtests and Scores:	General Approval of Aggression, Approval of Retaliation - Strong and Weak, Approval of Retaliation Against Males, Approval of Retaliation Against Females
Number of Items:	20
Type of Scale:	Likert

Technical Evaluation

Norms: 

Sample Size:	1,550
Population:	One midsized midwestern city and one large midwestern city located approximately 40 miles from each other.
Culture/ethnicity:	African-American, Caucasian, Hispanic/Latino
SES Level:	Low to Low Middle

Reliability: 

Psychometric information:	Provided for Subscales.
The range of Test-Retest Value:	0.06 to 0.44
The range of Inter-rater reliability:	Not assessed
The range of Internal consistency:	0.65 to 0.85

Validity: 

Criterion validity data has not been presented or published in study.

Practical Evaluation

Scoring Procedure:	Manual Scoring
Examiner Qualifications and Training Required:	None
Permission Required to Use Instrument:	Yes
If yes, by whom:	R. Rowell Huesmann

Notes

Original Reference(s):	Huesmann, L. R., Guerra, N. G., Miller, L., & Zelli, A. (1992). The role of social norms in the development of aggression. In H. Zumkley & A. Fraczek (Eds.), Socialization and aggression (pp. 139-151). New York: Springer. Huesmann, L. R., Guerra, N. G., Zelli, A., & Miller, L. (1992). Differing cognitions relating to TV viewing and aggression among boys and girls. In K. Bjorkqvist & P. Niemela (Eds.), Of Mice and Women. New York: Academic Press.
Other Reference(s):	Guerra, N. G., Huesmann, L. R., Tolan, P., Van Acker, R., & Eron, L. D. (1995). Stressful events and individual beliefs as correlates of economic disadvantage and aggression among urban children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63 94), 518-528. Huesmann, L. R., & Guerra, N. G. (1997). Children's normative beliefs about aggression and aggressive behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 72 (2), 408-419. Henry, D., Guerra, N., Huesmann, L. R., Tolan, P., Van Acker, R., & Eron, L. (2000). Normative influences on aggression in urban elementary school classrooms. American Journal of Community Psychology, 28 (1), 59-81.
Other:	There are two forms of the scale, C and D, that differ only in the direction in which items are worded, i.e., "it is wrong" or "it is OK". A different one-half of the items are worded in each direction on each scale.

Contact

Name:	L. Rowell Huesmann
Organization:	Research Center for Group Dynamics, Institute for Social Research
Address:	PO Box 1248 426 Thompson Street
City:	Ann Arbor
State:	MI
Zip:	48106-1248
Phone:	(734) 764-8385
Fax:	(734) 763-1202
E-mail:	huesmann@umich.edu
Website:	http://www.isr.umich.edu/rcgd/

Last updated by Violence Institute of New Jersey:  February 2007