Objective  To evaluate the reliability and validity of the Bullying Behavior and Experience Scale-Chinese Version (BBES-C) developed for disabled students and to provide evidences for its application in Chinese population.

  Methods  We conducted a questionnaire survey among 256 disabled students selected using cluster sampling in 31 compulsory education schools with resource rooms for special education in Qionglai municipality of Sichuan province between January and March 2017. Item analysis, internal consistency reliability, split-half reliability, and criterion validity were used to analyze the reliability and validity of the BBES-C.

  Results  There are 11 items in the BBES-C revised after 2 items being removed from the original BBES because of their inconsistency with Chinese culture. The item analysis revealed that the correlation coefficients for the total score of 11 items and their affiliated dimensions were between 0.71 to 0.82 (all P < 0.01), suggesting a good discrimination for all items of BBES-C. The Cronbach's α coefficient was 0.87 and the split-half reliability (Spearman-Brown) was 0.74 for the BBES-C as a whole. The Cronbach's α coefficients for the two subscales (victimization and bullying) of the BBES-C were 0.83 and 0.82, indicating a good reliability. Exploratory factor analysis demonstrated that the factor structure of the BBES-C is consistent with that of the original BBES and the cumulated variance of the 2 common factors of the BBES-C could explain 56.93% of total variance of the scale. The confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fitting of the BBES-C's measurements to the empirical data, with following indicator values: non-normed fit index (NNFI) = 0.97, comparative fit index (CFI) = 0.98, incremental fit index (IFI) = 0.98, root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) = 0.07, standard residual root mean square (SRMR) = 0.05. For all the students, the domain scores of BBES-C were 3.79 ± 3.76 for victimization, 1.75 ± 2.60 for bullying, and 1.08 ± 1.62 for school environment, respectively, and the school environment score was positively correlated with victimization score (r = 0.67) and bullying score (r = 0.30) significantly (both P < 0.01), indicating a good criterion validity of the revised scale.

  Conclusion  The reliability and validity of the BBES-C meet the requirements of psychometrics and the scale could be used as a measuring tool to assess the situation of school bullying among students with disabilities.