ASSESSING THE RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY OF STUDENT SELF-REPORTS OF CAMPUS VIOLENCE

Responses of adolescents who failed reliability and/or validity checks on a school climate and violence questionnaire (n = 109) were compare d with a randomly selected matched group of students (n = 109) who ans wered consistently and accurately. Results indicated significant diffe rences between the two groups on indexes of school violence victimizat ion perceived danger at school, peer connections, and course grades, T he most critical finding was that students with invalid and/or unrelia ble responses reported significantly more violence victimizations than the comparison group. The need for research addressing the accuracy o f school violence self-reports and concerns about the accuracy of exis ting school violence prevalence information are discussed.