Cross-Cultural Measurement of Cyberbullying Perpetration and Victimization in India and the US

Few studies in India have conducted research on cyberbullying, and the existing studies lack information about psychometric properties of cyberbullying measures. To address this gap in the literature, the current study evaluated the psychometric properties of a behavioral assessment of cyberbullying perpetration and victimization from the Problem Behavior Frequency Scales-Adolescent Revised among Indian youth. Parallel samples were recruited from the New Delhi area (N = 178; Mage = 12.47; 57.1% male) and the U.S. (N = 307; Mage = 11.79; 51.9% male). A confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a one-factor solution for both scales had good fit with the data, similar to the original validation of the scale. We found measurement equivalence for cyberbullying perpetration across demographic subgroups in India-gender, age, religion, free- or reduced-price lunch, geographic location, and type of school. Measurement equivalence was found for cyberbullying victimization across subgroups in India, except for free- or reduced-price lunch status. Invariance testing across countries resulted in strong invariance for cyberbullying perpetration (e.g., same structure, factor loadings, and intercepts). Invariance testing across countries for cyberbullying victimization was weak (e.g., same structure and factor loadings), suggesting caution against cross-cultural comparisons when using the cyberbullying victimization measure. The results build capacity for cyberbullying research in India so that risk and protective factors can be measured with validated cyberbullying scales to identify ways to reduce cyberbullying.