Arthur M. Bodin, Ph.D., ABPP

(650) 328-3000    













About the TABS-S
Purpose: To provide an instrument for schools, school systems, and researchers to measure the prevalence of teasing and bullying according to bullies, victims, bully-victims, and non-bullies/non-victims and to measures their attitudes toward school, feelings of safety, impact on grades, impact on school attendance, and impact of intervention programs.

Used By:

 Schools, school districts, researchers, masters and doctoral candidates, clinicians, and school psychologists and counselors.
Constructs Measured: Relational aggression, threats, and physical aggression according to bullies, victims, bully-victims, and non-bullies/non-victims.
Target Group/Settings: Students in grades 4 through 12 grades in elementary, middle, and high schools. In some schools third grade students may be able to complete the instrument, perhaps with a little assistance.
Reading Level: The TABS-S is at the 4th grade reading level on a word-by-word basis and according to “The Lexile Framework for Reading” (710L).
Anonymity: The TABS-S is taken anonymously so as to encourage student candor and allow principals to authorize its use without parental permission and without worrying about child abuse reporting.
Average Time to Complete: 10-25 minutes for 4th grade students

Instructions to Students:

 Available at: http://www.familyandmarriage.com/tabsstatement.html.
Developed By: Arthur M. Bodin, Ph.D., ABPP

Developer Contact Information:

 Arthur M. Bodin, Ph.D.
555 Middlefield Rd.
Palo Alto, CA 94301-2124
(650) 328-3000   |   ambodin@hotmail.com
Copyright Information: Copyright 2008 by Arthur M. Bodin, Ph.D., ABPP, All Rights Reserved.
Usage Fee: $50 Click here to pay Usage Fees.
Characteristics:
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5 demographic items.
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6 Likert items on feelings about school and grades.
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5 Likert items on feelings about and perceptions of teasing and bullying.
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8 mainly Likert items on skipping schools, friendships, and perceptions of teasing and bullying.
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80 paired Yes/No items on specific teasing and bullying behaviors experienced (forty items) or engaged in (40 items) during the past month.
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2 items on self-concept as one who experiences and/or engages in teasing and bullying behaviors.
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2 items on talking with an adult about having been teased or bullied.
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1 item on “Hot Spots,” clarifying how often students are teased or bullied at nine school locations.
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3 items on the student’s opinions about how the school responds to teasing and bullying.
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1 item on the student’s own actions upon observing teasing or bullying.
Reliability and Validity:

A reliability and validity study was conducted using data from 5111 students from 33 schools: 49.6% were male and 50.4% were female, with a mean age of 13.8 years (SD = 2.4 years).

Reliability coefficients obtained using Cronbach’s Coefficient Alpha (KR-20) were as follows:

Score

Alpha
Victim Total: .932
Bully Total: .933

Validity of the Victim score was studied by comparing mean scores for students who responded positively and negatively to the statement “I think of myself as someone who gets teased/bullied by others.” For the comparison, p<0.001.

Validity of the Bully scales was studied by comparing mean scores for students who responded positively and negatively to the statement: "I think of myself as someone who teases/bullies others.” For all comparisons, p<0.001.
Data Entry and Analysis: Data entry and reporting service provided including narrative summary plus graphs and tables of descriptive statistics.
Cost of Data Entry and Analysis: $1.75 per student for data entry; $250.00 per school for reporting service.
Program Evaluation: The experience of completing the instrument may raise a student’s awareness, thus activating what I term the “squirm effect,” which may well start to lower the school’s teasing and bullying level even before any organized curriculum or other reduction program. Thus, measuring the impact of such programs would best be done by administering the instrument on two occasions, a full month apart, before initiating the program. This would allow the program evaluation to be prepurged of some of the artifactual inflation due to the “squirm effect.”
Self-Identification to
Access Counseling:		 The teacher or consultant who administers the TABS-S can invite students to contact a designated person in the school if the experience of completing the instrument aroused awareness of being teased or bullied a lot or of doing a lot of teasing or bullying – awareness which now leads some students to want to discuss individually or in a group their involvement in teasing and bullying. These possibilities may encourage schools to set up some appropriate ways this can be accomplished.
Other Versions: I have also developed three related surveys plus a supplemental questionnaire:

The Teasing and Bullying Survey: Clinical Version (TABS-C) can provide an instrument for clinicians to measure the prevalence of teasing and bullying according to bullies, victims, bully-victims, and non-bullies/non-victims and to measures their attitudes toward school, feelings of safety, impact on grades, impact on school attendance, and impact of intervention programs. Frequency is measured as well as distress levels -- immediate and current.

The Workplace Bullying Surveys (WBS and WBS-S) are taken anonymously so as to encourage employee candor and can provide an instrument for employers, schools, and researchers to measure the prevalence of workplace bullying according to many specific bullying behaviors experienced – as recipient or originator, self-categorizations as bullies, victims, bully-victims, and non-bullies/non-victims and to measure their attitudes toward their job, feelings of safety at work, impact on work performance and attendance, and impact of workplace bullying intervention programs.

A supplemental Questions for Classroom Discussion, has been developed as a means of gathering data on initial attitudes and as a springboard for discussion which can be used by teachers with their students after the TABS-S is administered. The Questions for Classroom Discussion consists of four questions: (1) How well various responses will work if someone is teased or bullied; (2) How the student reacts when teased or bullied; (3) Why do some students get teased more than others? and (4) Why do some students tease or bully more than others?
 

 

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