İrfan Yurdabakan

Factor Structure of the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire in Turkish Children and Gender, Grade-Level, and Socioeconomic Status Differences in Reactive and Proactive Aggression

The present study aimed to evaluate the factor structure of the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ) with Turkish children, and to investigate gender, grade-level, and socioeconomic status (SES) differences in reactive and proactive aggression. Participants consisted of 1,081 Turkish children (544 boys and 537 girls) aged 9 to 14 years. Findings from the confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for the two-factor reactive-proactive model. It was also found that the factor structure of the RPQ was the same across gender groups. Reactive and Proactive Aggression scales and Total Aggression scale showed high internal consistency. Boys got higher scores on both Reactive and Proactive Aggression scales. Reactive and proactive aggression increased with age until Grade 7 in both boys and girls. Finally, the findings showed that, for both boys and girls, children with low SES had significantly higher reactive and proactive aggression scores than children with middle and high SES.

The View of Constructivist Theory on Assessment: Alternative Assessment Methods in Education

Since the Ministry of National Education started the structural changes in the primary and secondary education curricula, there has been a growing interest towards constructivist learning philosophy, constructivist theory and active learning in educational and scientific environments in Turkey. Alternative assessment practices have an important place in the new curricula, which went into effect in 2005-2006 academic year. Many authors suggest that objectives for active learning method could only be attained if they were used together with alternative assessment practices. There are many writers who suggest that objectives for active learning method could only be reached if they were used together with alternative assessment activities. The principal aim of this study is to analyze the relations between constructivism and learning and assessment and also to discuss theoretically portfolio assessment and peer-self-co-assessment approaches that have emerged, and additionally to determine the positive and negative results stated in related studies, so that practitioners could draw some deductions.

Factor Structure, Measurement Invariance, Criterion Validity, and Reliability of the School Kindness Scale: Turkish Middle School Sample

The aim of the study is to adapt the School Kindness Scale (SKS) to Turkish, and to examine its psychometric properties. For this purpose, two separate samples were used. Totally, 611 middle school students (302 boys, corresponding to 49.43% and 309 girls, corresponding to 50.57%) participated in the Study 1, and 759 middle school students (369 boys, corresponding to 48.62% and 390 girls, corresponding to 51.38%) participated to Study 2. In Study 1, exploratory factor analysis suggested that the SKS has a unidimensional structure, with factor loadings varying from .64 to .72. The SKS total score appears to be reliable (Cronbach’s α = .71 in Study 1, and McDonald’s ω = .82 in Study 2). Using confirmatory factor analysis, the 1-factor model was found to fit the data well. The results of measurement invariance suggest that the SKS measures similar constructs for boys and girls. Significant positive correlations were found between SKS, student-rated school climate, resilience, and life satisfaction, providing further evidence of the construct validity of the Turkish version of the SKS. The evidence suggests that scores from the Turkish version of the SKS are reliable and suitable to be used to assess school kindness in Turkish middle school students.

Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale: an adaptation study

Objective: The aim of the study is to carry out the adaptation of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale to Turkish and seek evidence of validity and reliability of the scale. Methods: The study was conducted with a total of 334 health professionals, ranging in age from 17 to 64 years and seniority from 1 to 33 years. Of the participants, 197 (59%) were female, 137 (41%) were male. The study was conducted in psychiatry, emergency and intensive care services and outpatient clinics in Izmir Tepecik Training and Research Hospital. 103 of participants were physicians, 188 were nurses, 21 were emergency medical technicians, and 22 were other health professionals. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the construct validity of the scale in the study. The relationship between the scale and Organizational Cynicism Scale (OCS) and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) has been looked into to test criterion validity. The reliability of the scale was calculated by using the Cronbach alpha internal consistency inference method and confirmatory factor analysis was calculated with the LISREL 8.7 program. Results: Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in compliance indices confirming three dimensional originality, factor loadings ranged from 0.29-0.79 and t values were found as significant. In addition, Organizational Cynicism Scale and Maslach Burnout Inventory which examined similar constructs resulted in high and significant relationships. The reliability coefficients of the scale were found to be α=0.91 for the total scale of 17 items. In addition, α=0.78 for avoidance from sub-dimension, α=0.82 for arousal and α=0.84 for emotional violation was calculated. Discussion: As a result of the analysis of the data, it was concluded that traumatic stress scale was a valid and reliable measurement tool.