Psychometric Properties of the Deviant Behavior Variety Scale in Young Spanish Adults

Deviant behavior is a psychosocial problem that has attracted great interest from both the scientific community and society at large due to its prevalence and negative consequences. Valid, reliable measures of deviant behaviors are critical for providing a better understanding of their causes and outcomes. The central aim of the present study was to assess the psychometric properties of the Deviant Behavior Variety Scale (DBVS) in a sample of young Spanish adults.

Participants comprised 490 young adults (62.4% female) aged between 18 and 20 years old (M= 18.90; SD= .77).

Confirmatory factor analyses yielded a single-factor structure model of DBVS showing, in general, satisfactory or good fit indexes. Moreover, convergent validity was confirmed by assessing correlations between deviant behavior (r = .77) and psychopathy (r = .45), showing that both variables were correlated. Intraclass reliability (ICC) results demonstrated the test-retest reliability of the DBVS, and Kuder-Richardson 20 (KR-20 = .79) showed appropriate internal item consistency.

This study found that the Spanish version of DBVS presented promising psychometric properties supporting it is a reliable, valid measure for assessing young adults, involvement in deviant behaviors.