Assessment, Prediction, and Prevention of Destructive Behaviors: Scale Validation and Extension to Narrow Behaviors
Abstract
Destructive behaviors, such as sexual assault, physical assault, and binge drinking, are common within many workplaces. No employer, including the U.S. Navy, is immune to these and other similar behaviors. Unfortunately, the presence of destructive behavior undermines a Culture of Excellence, harms the well-being of victims, and imposes financial costs. The effective assessment of these behaviors, therefore, is of critical importance. Previous assessment efforts, virtually all of which have occurred within a civilian context, have led to the development of generic measures of destructive behavior. These existing measures are likely to be of limited value to the U.S. Navy for two reasons. First, they are likely to be contaminated with content that is irrelevant within many Navy communities. Second, they are likely to omit destructive behaviors that are relevant to a -particular community. The proposed research would accomplish five objectives: (a) the validation of four context-specific measures of destructive behavior that are specifically tailored to four communities of the U.S. Navy, (b) the development of a general measure of destructive behavior that is applicable across the four communities, (c) the examination of the base rates of witnessing and reporting of destructive behaviors across the four communities, (d) the development and validation of a narrow destructive behavior scale that is of particular concern to the U.S. Navy, and (e) the examination of the base rates of witnessing and reporting of the narrow destructive behavior across -the four communities. Our prior ONR-funded research used several sources (e.g., focus groups, the Uniform Code of Military Justice) to create an initial pool of U.S. Navy-relevant destructive behavior items for four communities. We will complete pilot testing of these items by December 2022, thus producing final destructive behavior scales. Our proposed measurement development process, which would draw from this prior research, would involve three distinct phases. In Phase I we would examine the construct validity of the four destructive behavior measures. This phase would -involve the development of a nomological network that identifies the hypothesized correlates of the destructive behavior construct. We would also develop a general destructive behavior scale that would be applicable across the four communities. This phase would also measure the frequency with which participants had observed others engage in destructive behavior and how frequently they reported those behaviors to a superior. We would then collect data that test the extent to which the destructive behavior measures correlate with the nomological network, determine the witness and reporting rates of destructive behavior across the four communities, and evaluate the validity of the general destructive behavior scale. Phases II and III would use methods similar to those we used in Phase I to create a measure of a narrow destructive behavior that is particularly important, prevalent, or harmful. We would also assess the base rate of witnessing and reporting the narrow destructive -behavior. The development of context-specific measures of destructive behavior would increase the U.S. Navy#s capacity to detect destructive behavior. This is important because future efforts to predict and prevent destructive behavior will depend on measures that accurately reflect the destructive behaviors that are commonly present among Navy personnel
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Apr 12, 2023
- Source ID
- N000142312309
Entities
People
- Nathan Bowling
Organizations
- Office of Naval Research
- United States Navy
- University of Central Florida Board of Trustees