Bell Relationship Inventory for Adolescents ( BRIA )
Overview
Acronym:
BRIA Author Contact:
Morris D. Bell
VA Connecticut Healthcare System
Psychology Service, 116-B, Campbell Ave.
West Haven, CT, 06516
Citation:
Bell, M.D. (2005) Bell Relationship Inventory for Adolescents (BRIA) Manual. Los Angeles: Western Psychological Services.
To Obtain:
Western Psychological Services
12031 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025-1251
Phone: 800-648-8857
Fax: 310-478-7838
Email:
Morris.Bell@Yale.edu
Cost:
$1.34
Copyright:
Yes Description:
The BRIA is an adapted version of the Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory (BORRTI) that was developed for adolescents aged 11 to 17 and assesses for psychological disturbances and relationship problems. The BORRTI has been widely used with adults and is reviewed in this database. The BRIA contains only the Object Relations subscales (and not the Reality Testing subscales) from the BORRTI.
It yields scores on 4 scales comparable to the BORRTI scores: 1) Alienation, 2) Insecure attachment, 3) Egocentricity, and 4) Social incompetence. It also yields a score on one additional scale Positive Attachment, which reflects healthy object relations.
While both measures have validity scales, the BRIA has a response bias scale in place of the three scales found on the BORRTI. The measure can be administered to individuals or groups.
Content from the BRIA copyright (c) 2005 by Western Psychological Services. Reprinted for reference within the NCTSN Measure Review Database by permission of the publisher, WPS, 12031 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90025, www.wpspublish.com. All rights reserved.
Theoretical Orientation Summary:
Psychoanalytic ego psychology (specifically object relations and reality testing).
Domains Assessed:
Personal/interpersonal functioning (child)
Trauma-related alterations of expectancies/attitud
Validity (child)
Languages:
English (USA)
Age Range:
11-17 Years
Measure Type:
General Assessment
Number of Items:
50 Measure Format:
Questionnaire
Time to Complete:
10
Reporter:
Self
Score Time:
5
Education Level:
6
Periodicity:
Not Known Response Format:
True/False
Materials Needed:
Paper and pencil
Materials Notes:
Materials needed: 1) Manual, and 2) FormMaterials offered through WPS (as of 6/05):1. Kit: $90.00 (Includes Autoscore Forms, Manual for the Bell Object Relations and Reality Testing Inventory, Manual Supplement for the BRIA.)2. Autoscore forms (pkg/25): $33.503. Manual for the BORRTI: $48.504. Manual Supplement for the BRIA: $20The forms include hand-scoring templates.Measure has a Flesch Reading Ease score of 88.2% and a Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level of 3.5. The authors state that these scores suggest the BRIA is written in language that most children in 6th grade and beyond should be able to understand.
Information Provided:
Areas of concern/risks
Clinician friendly output
Continuous assessment
Graphs
Percentiles
Raw Scores
Standard scores
Strengths
Written feedback from a computer program
Training
Training to Administrator:
Via manual/video
Training to Interpret:
Not Available
Training Notes:
Interpretation should be conducted by those with an "appropriate background in personality assessment and a grasp of the fundamentals of test construction, validity, reliability, and test administration."
Psychometrics
Norms:
None
Psychometric Norm Notes:
The 625 public school students who were part of the development sample (see "Population Used to Develop Measure") comprised the reference sample used to develop standard scores. Only those with no missing items were used. This group averaged 14.3 years of age (SD=1.85, Range=11-19); 273 were boys (44%) and 348 were girls (56%). Ethnicity was 65% White, 19% Black/African American, 7% Hispanic, 3% Asian, 4% Other, and 2% Missing.
One set of norms exists for boys and girls across all age groups and ethnicities. The author examined differences and found some significant differences for gender and age but reasoned that the effect sizes are small. One ethnicity difference in the moderate-effect size range was found for Hispanic youth compared to White youth, suggesting that further research may be needed with this population to determine whether the difference represents a true population difference.
Clinical Cutoffs:
Response bias=2 SD above or below the average score T<30 or T>70; Positive attachment T<40, all other scales T>59.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
1. The measure is based on a widely used measure of adult relationship functioning. Although that measure could be used with adolescents, the author chose to refine the measure and to develop this version, with wording and norms that are more appropriate for this population.
2. The measure taps potentially important therapeutic dimensions that may be especially relevant when working with children exposed to trauma.
Cons:
1. The measure is relatively new and is not widely used.
2. While a factor analysis has been conducted, the variance accounted for by this factor solution is low (16%).
3. Internal consistencies are acceptable, but this would be expected, given that they were calculated using the same sample with which the factor structure was determined. In addition, while acceptable, the internal consistencies are in the lower range of acceptable. Additional work is needed to examine whether the internal consistencies are similar when examined in other populations.
4. While the development and normative samples did include a reasonable percentage of African-Americans (19%), it did not involve large samplings of other ethnic groups. More research may be needed before applying the measure to other groups, especially given the author's caution regarding using the BORRTI with respondents who are not fluent in English because it contains idiomatic expressions that are not well understood by foreign-born English speakers.
Author Comments
Author Comments:
The author received the reviews and provided comments on the BORRTI but not the BRIA.
Citation for Review:
Chandra Ghosh Ippen, Ph.D.
Editor of Review:
Chandra Ghosh Ippen, Ph.D.
Last Updated:
Thu, 06/02/2005
PDF Available:
Yes
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