Development and validation of the student alienation and trauma scale

This study, conducted with a sample of 309 school-age participants, had three primary purposes. First was the revision of Part One of an existing two-part survey form, used to measure students' negative school experiences involving adults in the school setting and the emotional symptoms resulting from the worst of these experiences, to include abuse by peers. The revised form is called the Student Alienation and Trauma Survey (SATS). Second, the factor structure of the revised Part One was analyzed, yielding six factors: General Mistreatment, Relational Mistreatment, Coercion/Restriction, Knowledge of or Experience of Violence, Rule-Breaking/Discipline, and Sexual or Racial Harassment. Third, the construct validity of a hypothesized syndrome, measured using three of the symptom subscales, Student Alienation Syndrome (SAS), was evaluated through correlation of SATS Symptom Subscale scores with an independent measure, the Brief Student Alienation Assessment (BSAA). This analysis found significant correlations between all symptom subscale scores and the BSAA, failing to support the SAS as a defined construct. Secondary analyses included univariate analyses of the relationship between symptom subscale scores and several variables: factor scores, gender, age, and frequency of the worst school experience (WSE). Results found significant correlations between all but one of the factors and the Symptoms Subscale scores, females scored higher on four of the twelve Symptom Subscales, age had an effect on only one Symptom Subscale, and higher WSE frequency resulted in higher scores on 11 of the 12 Symptom Subscales. A three-way MANOVA found significant main effects for gender, frequency, and age but no interaction among these variables. An independent samples t-test compared mean Symptom Subscale scores for those whose WSE involved a peer versus an adult with results showing nine of 12 Symptom Subscale scores to be significantly higher for those whose WSE involved a peer. Independent samples t-tests compared factor scores for those whose PTSD scores were in the clinically significant versus non-clinical range, indicating those in the clinically significant range had higher factor scores only one factor. Results are discussed in the context of peer victimization, school alienation, school climate, and PTSD.