Evidence that the Subtypes of Antisocial Behavior questionnaire (STAB) predicts momentary reports of acting-out behaviors

There is growing recognition that substantively important distinctions exist across physically aggressive, rule-breaking, and socially aggressive forms of antisocial behavior. Even so, one limitation to accumulating additional scientific insights into the correlates and origins of these three varieties of antisocial behavior has been the lack of an efficient self-report assessment in the public domain. The Subtypes of the Antisocial Behavior Questionnaire (STAB) was developed to address this need. Although there is already a good deal of psychometric support for the STAB, prior research has yet to examine its “ecological” validity. In other words, it remains unclear whether the STAB scales would predict the frequency of acting-out behaviors in daily life. The current study sought to examine this question via an electronic diary study, in which participants reported on their momentary behaviors on multiple occasions in their natural environments. Analyses revealed that each STAB scale uniquely predicted only the momentary acting-out behaviors characteristic of that scale. Such findings provide further support for the STAB as a promising self-report measure of physically aggressive, rule-breaking, and socially aggressive forms of antisocial behavior.