Assessing Violent Behavior With Self-Reports: A Research Brief of the Denver Youth Survey

• NCJ Number: 139806
• Author(s): D Huizinga
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 3 pages
• Corporate Author: University of Colorado
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Survey
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: Brief based on Denver Youth Survey Report Number 12, to be published in Neuropsychology of Aggression, J. Milner, ed., Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1991

Annotation

Self-report measures of aggression and violence have the potential to identify correlates, risk factors, explanations, and causes of violent behavior.

Abstract

Self-reports of aggression and violence represent direct measures of behavior and are not the result of system or official response to such behavior. In addition, self- report measures of aggression and violence avoid other problems inherent in official records. Self-reports are easily incorporated into more comprehensive studies, allowing the collection of data about a broad range of variables. They can also be used in a wide variety of samples and settings. Most criticisms of self-report measures of aggression and violence center on the belief that these measures are not valid. The measures require the cooperation of individual subjects and raise certain ethical concerns. Although self-reports appear to be rather imperfect measures of aggression and violence, they remain one of the most promising approaches.