Abstract

Two studies about development and validation of an instrument to assess resentment in young people are presented. The first one included 60 juvenile offenders, half of whom were considered resentful and the other half were not considered resentful by experts that work with them. An instrument of 74 items validated by experts was developed and was applied to the participants. Item analyses were performed, resulting in a 36 item scale. This resulting scale had good reliability and clearly discriminated between resentful and not resentful young. In the second study, the scale was reconfigured, composed by 40 items and was applied to a representative sample of 575 high school students. Factor analysis of the results yielded 3 factors consistent with the operationalization of the construct: reaction to injustice, vindictive and appreciation, although the amount of explained variance is only moderate. It is concluded that the instrument is valid to assess resentment in young people.