📄 social_science

Psychometric validation of the Teachers' Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ) among Spanish adolescents

This study validates a refined 14-item, five-factor version of the Teachers' Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ) for Spanish adolescents, demonstrating its robust psychometric properties, including good model fit, reliability, and gender invariance, thereby providing a sound tool for assessing student perceptions of teacher responses to bullying.

Original authors: Álvaro García-Prieto, Carmen Galán-Arroyo, Jorge Rojo-Ramos

Published 2026-07-06

📖 5 min read🧠 Deep dive

CC BY 4.0

Original authors: Álvaro García-Prieto, Carmen Galán-Arroyo, Jorge Rojo-Ramos

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ✨ This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer

The Big Picture: What Are They Trying to Do?

Imagine a school as a busy, chaotic playground. When kids get into trouble (bullying), the teachers are the referees. But here's the catch: it's not just about what the referee does; it's about how the players see what the referee does.

This study is about a specific tool called the Teachers' Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ). Think of this questionnaire as a "perception thermometer." It doesn't measure the actual temperature (what the teacher did); it measures how hot or cold the students feel the situation is based on the teacher's actions.

The researchers wanted to make sure this "thermometer" works perfectly for Spanish teenagers. They wanted to know: Does this tool accurately measure the different ways Spanish kids think teachers handle bullying?

The Cast of Characters

The Participants: 1,279 Spanish teenagers (ages 12–16) from various schools.
The Tool: A 15-question survey asking students how often they see their teachers doing specific things when bullying happens.
The Goal: To prove that the survey is reliable, accurate, and measures five distinct "flavors" of teacher responses.

The Investigation: How Did They Test It?

The researchers acted like detectives using a "cross-validation" strategy. Imagine they had a giant bag of marbles (the students). They split the bag into two separate piles:

Pile A (The Explorers): They looked at this pile first to see what patterns emerged naturally.
Pile B (The Confirmers): They took the patterns they found in Pile A and tested them on Pile B to see if the pattern held up.

They also checked if the tool worked the same way for boys and girls (like checking if a ruler measures inches the same way for a left-handed person as a right-handed one) and if the answers stayed consistent over two weeks (like checking if a scale gives you the same weight today as it did two weeks ago).

The Plot Twist: One Question Didn't Fit

When the researchers first looked at the data, they found a problem with one specific question (Question #3: "My teacher lets the students resolve it on their own").

The Analogy: Imagine you are sorting a deck of cards into five piles: Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades, and Jokers. But one card (Question #3) was weird. It had the face of a Joker but the suit of a Club. It didn't fit clearly into any pile. It was confusing the pattern.

Because this question was "noisy" and didn't fit the theory well, the researchers removed it. This turned the survey from a 15-question test into a 14-question test.

The Five "Flavors" of Teacher Responses

Once they removed the confusing question, the data revealed that Spanish teenagers clearly distinguish between five different ways teachers handle bullying. It's not just "good teacher" vs. "bad teacher." It's more like a menu with five distinct dishes:

The "Do Nothing" Plate (Non-intervention): The teacher ignores it or lets the kids fight it out. (This is the "cold" plate).
The "Punisher" Plate (Disciplinary Methods): The teacher scolds the bully, sends them to the principal, or calls the parents.
The "Classroom Chat" Plate (Group Discussion): The teacher talks to the whole class about what bullying is and how it hurts.
The "Peacekeeper" Plate (Mediation): The teacher helps the bully and the victim sit down and talk it out to find a solution.
The "Protector" Plate (Victim Support): The teacher comforts the victim, tries to get other kids to help them, and makes sure they feel safe.

The Discovery: The study found that teenagers are smart enough to tell these five things apart. They don't just see a "teacher helping"; they see a "teacher punishing" vs. a "teacher comforting" as two very different psychological experiences.

The Results: Does the Tool Work?

The researchers ran the numbers, and the results were very positive:

It Fits: The 14-question, 5-part model fit the data perfectly, like a key turning smoothly in a lock.
It's Consistent: If you asked the same kids again two weeks later, their answers were very similar. The tool is stable.
It's Fair: The tool works exactly the same way for boys and girls. A "high score" means the same thing for both.
It's Reliable: The questions inside each group (like the three "Protector" questions) all agreed with each other.

The Conclusion: What Does This Mean?

The paper concludes that this refined 14-question survey is a psychometrically sound (scientifically accurate) tool for Spanish schools.

The Main Takeaway:
Adolescents aren't just passive observers. They are active interpreters. They have a sophisticated mental map that separates "ignoring the problem," "punishing the bad guy," "teaching the class," "fixing the fight," and "hugging the victim."

By using this tool, researchers can now accurately measure how Spanish teenagers perceive their teachers' actions. This helps us understand that for a student, a teacher's response isn't just one big event; it's a collection of specific signals that tell the student whether the school is safe, fair, and supportive.

In short: The researchers fixed a broken part of a measuring tape, proved it measures five different things accurately, and confirmed that Spanish teenagers have a very clear, nuanced understanding of how their teachers handle bullying.

Technical Summary: Psychometric Validation of the Teachers' Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ) among Spanish Adolescents

Problem Statement
Adolescents' perceptions of teachers' responses to bullying are critical determinants of psychological processes such as perceived social support, classroom safety, and psychosocial adjustment. While the Teachers' Responses to Bullying Questionnaire (TRBQ) has been validated in various contexts, previous studies have reported inconsistent factorial structures. Specifically, while some adaptations (e.g., Nappa et al., 2021; van Gils et al., 2022) support a five-factor model, a recent Spanish adaptation (Rodríguez-Pérez et al., 2026) proposed a more parsimonious three-factor solution. This discrepancy raises questions regarding whether Spanish adolescents differentiate distinct forms of adult intervention (e.g., non-intervention, mediation, victim support) as psychologically meaningful dimensions, or if these should be aggregated. The study addresses the need for a psychometrically sound instrument to assess these perceptions specifically within the Spanish secondary education context.

Methodology
The study employed a psychometric validation design following Montero and León (2007) recommendations, utilizing a cross-sectional approach with a longitudinal subsample for temporal stability.

Participants: The main sample consisted of 1,279 adolescents (aged 12–16) from secondary schools in Central and Southwestern Spain. The sample was randomly split into two independent subsamples: one for Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA; n = 639) and one for Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA; n = 640). A separate independent subsample of 129 students was recruited for a two-week test–retest reliability assessment.
Instrument: The study utilized the 15-item revised TRBQ (Nappa et al., 2021), measuring five dimensions: Non-intervention, Disciplinary Methods, Group Discussion, Mediation, and Victim Support. Responses were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale.
Procedure: Data were collected between September and December 2025. The Spanish version was developed via forward–backward translation.
Statistical Analysis: Analyses were conducted using R and Jamovi. EFA used a polychoric correlation matrix with MINRES extraction and Promax rotation. CFA utilized robust maximum likelihood (MLR) estimation. Model fit was evaluated using CFI, TLI, RMSEA, and SRMR. Internal consistency (Cronbach's $\alpha$ and McDonald's $\omega$ ), convergent validity (AVE), measurement invariance across gender (configural, metric, scalar, strict), and temporal stability (ICC) were assessed.

Key Results

Factorial Structure: EFA revealed a four-factor solution where Non-intervention and Mediation items overlapped, and Item 3 (TRBQ3) showed poor psychometric performance (low communality, high uniqueness). Consequently, TRBQ3 was removed. CFA on the independent subsample supported a refined 14-item, five-factor model (Non-intervention, Disciplinary Methods, Group Discussion, Mediation, Victim Support).
Model Fit: The refined model demonstrated excellent fit indices: CFI = .972, TLI = .962, RMSEA = .060 (90% CI [.051, .069]), and SRMR = .032.
Reliability and Validity: Internal consistency ranged from acceptable to excellent ( $\alpha$ = .678–.883; $\omega$ = .710–.885). Convergent validity was supported (AVE $\ge$ .50 for all factors).
Measurement Invariance: The instrument demonstrated configural, metric, scalar, and strict invariance across gender, indicating that the latent structure functions equivalently for boys and girls.
Temporal Stability: Test–retest analyses over a two-week interval showed acceptable to good stability (ICC range: .527–.662), with no significant mean differences between administrations.

Key Contributions

Refined Instrument for Spanish Context: The study validates a 14-item version of the TRBQ specifically for Spanish adolescents, resolving previous inconsistencies by supporting the original five-factor theoretical structure over a more parsimonious three-factor alternative.
Developmental Insight: The findings suggest that Spanish adolescents possess the social-cognitive sophistication to distinguish between conceptually distinct forms of adult intervention (e.g., separating mediation from victim support or group discussion), viewing them as psychologically meaningful categories rather than a monolithic "teacher response."
Methodological Rigor: The study provides robust evidence of measurement invariance across gender and temporal stability, establishing the TRBQ as a reliable tool for comparative and longitudinal research in this population.
Item Optimization: The identification and removal of TRBQ3 improved the psychometric quality of the scale, resulting in a more precise measurement tool.

Significance and Claims
The authors claim that the TRBQ provides a psychometrically sound framework for investigating how adolescents interpret adult responses to bullying. The study posits that these perceptions are not merely evaluations of observable behavior but represent complex psychological constructs related to fairness, protection, authority, and social support. By validating a multidimensional model, the instrument allows researchers and practitioners to move beyond general assessments of teacher behavior to examine specific intervention strategies. The authors assert that understanding these distinct perceptions is crucial for explaining variations in school climate, help-seeking behaviors, and psychosocial adjustment. The validated instrument is presented as a tool to facilitate future research on the relationship between teacher responses, perceived support, and adolescent development, as well as to aid in evaluating the effectiveness of anti-bullying programs by capturing the student perspective on intervention quality.