Scales for assessment of adolescents with antisocial behavior

Abstract

The paper presents and analyse descriptive and metric characteristics as well as applicative potentials of several assessment scales for adolescents with antisocial behaviour. The purpose of scales is to assess personal characteristics of adolescents, their families and peer groups that present the relevant ground for planning, monitoring and evaluation of the effects of social services, mental health and psychological counseling services, schools' programs, etc. The scales were developed through different projects and researches and were empirically checked out in adolescents' population in Serbia. Assessment scales included were: Conflict Tactics Scale (TAKIT), Aggression Self Assessment Scale (SAG), Personal Believes Scale (LUS,) Self-Efficiency Scale (SES) and Peer Group Antisocial Behavior Scale (POKS-R). Almost all scales showed high reliability and predictive validity. Only SES scale showed lower reliability, due to the small number of items and heterogeneity of included aspects of self-efficiency. Considering the importance of self-efficiency in planning and evaluation of treatments of adolescents with antisocial behavior, further modification of the scale is recommended.

Rad se bavi prikazom i analizom deskriptivnih i metrijskih karakteristika, kao i mogućnostima primene različitih instrumenata za procenu mladih sa antisocijalnim ponašanjem. Instrumenti se bave procenom ličnih karakteristika mladih, njihovih porodica i vršnjačke grupe koje su relevantna osnova za planiranje i praćenje efekata usluga i mera u okviru službi za socijalnu zaštitu, zdravstvenih institucija, psiholoških savetovališta, škola i sl. Oni su razvijani u okviru različitih istraživačkih i aplikativnih projekata i empirijski su provereni na našoj populaciji adolescenata. Obuhvaćeni su sledeći instrumenti procene: Skala konfliktnih taktika TAKIT, Skala samoprocene agresivnosti SAG, Skala ličnih uverenja LUS, Skala samo-efikasnosti SES i Skala prokriminalnog ponašanja neformalne grupe POKS-R. Skoro sve skale su pokazale veoma dobru pouzdanost, i prediktivnu validnost. Jedino je skala SES imala nešto niže metrijske karakteristike, s obzirom na mali broj ajtema i heterogenost aspekata samo-efikasnosti koje obuhvata. Imajući u vidu značaj procene samo-efikasnosti za planiranje i evaluaciju tretmana antisocijalne omladine, potrebno je dalje unaprediti skalu.