Performance of the Reported and Intended Behavior Scale Among Colombian Adolescents

Stigma discrimination against people who meet the criteria for mental disorders is frequent in Colombian adolescents; however, there is no valid and reliable instrument for measurement. The study aimed to establish the Reported and Intended Behavior Scale psychometric performance among Colombian adolescents.

The Reported and Intended Behavior Scale can measure reported behaviors, and the intended behavior sub-scale shows high internal consistency. However, the dimensionality of the intended behavior sub-scale presents modest goodness-of-fit indexes. These findings need replications.

A validation study was carried out with 350 students aged between 10 and 17, 53.7% of whom were girls. The authors estimated frequencies for reported behaviors and measured internal consistency and confirmatory factor analysis for intended behaviors. The Reported and Intended Behavior Scale has 2 sub-scales-reported and intended behaviors, with 4 items each.

The reported behavior sub-scale ranged from 10.0% to 24.9%, whereas the intended behavior sub-scale presented a Cronbach's alpha of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.86-0.90) and a McDonald omega of 0.88. For the confirmatory factor analysis, Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin was 0.81, Bartlett chi-squared, was 771.1 (df = 6, P = .001), and Eigen value was 2.95 that explained 73.9% of the total variance. For the goodness-of-fit tests, chi-squared was 21.9 (df = 2, P = .001), root mean square error of approximation was 0.17 (90% CI: 0.11-0.24), Comparative Fit Index was 0.97, Tucker-Lewis Index was 0.92, and standardized root mean square residual was 0.03. Conclusions: The Reported and Intended Behavior Scale can measure reported behaviors, and the intended behavior sub-scale shows high internal consistency. However, the dimensionality of the intended behavior sub-scale presents modest goodness-of-fit indexes. These findings need replications.