Adolescent Risk Behavior Screen - ARBS

Technical Manual

Script Author: Katja Borchert, Ph.D. (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Created: January 24, 2014

Last Modified: January 24, 2025 by K. Borchert (katjab@millisecond.com), Millisecond

Script Copyright © Millisecond Software, LLC

Background

This script implements The Adolescent Risk Behavior Screen (ARBS) by Jankowski et al (2007).

References

Jankowski, MK, Rosenberg, HJ, Sengupta, A, Rosenberg, SD, & Wolford, GL (2007). Development of a Screening Tool to Identify Adolescents Engaged in Multiple Problem Behaviors: The Adolescent Risk Behavior Screen (ARBS). Journal of Adolescent Health, 40, 180.e19 –180.e26.

Duration

2 minutes

Description

Participants fill out a 9 item survey to assess risk for high risk behavior in adolescents.

Procedure

• age/gender survey questions
• 9 item survey to assess risk for high risk behavior in adolescents
• lowest risk answer for each questions receives a score of 1 => minimum score = 9 (highest score = 30)
• the questions in this script are not required to be answered
To change: go to QUESTIONS and change /required = true to /required = true

Summary Data

File Name: arbs_summary*.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
inquisit.version Inquisit version number
computer.platform Device platform: win | mac |ios | android
computer.touch 0 = device has no touchscreen capabilities; 1 = device has touchscreen capabilities
computer.hasKeyboard 0 = no external keyboard detected; 1 = external keyboard detected
startDate Date the session was run
startTime Time the session was run
subjectId Participant ID
groupId Group number
sessionId Session number
elapsedTime Session duration in ms
completed 0 = Test was not completed
1 = Test was completed
radioButtons.gender.response The selected gender
textbox.age.response The entered age
totalScore The totalscore based on all answered questions
Range: 9-30
The higher the score the greater the risk
countAnsweredQuestions Counts all answered questions
meanScore Calculates the mean score (used as substitute if not all questions are answered)
arbsScore The ARBS score (based on totalscore)
!!! for 1 or 2 missing questions => the mean is substituted
If more than 2 questions are left unanswered, the totalscore is not calculated in this
riskAssessment Totalscore_ARBS > 17: high risk; totalscore_ARBS <= 17: not high risk (if not enough data => "Cannot be determined")
"For most purposes, we recommend using a cut-off of greater than 17 for both girls and boys." (Jankowski et al, 2007)

Raw Data

File Name: arbs.iqdat

Data Fields

NameDescription
date Date the session was run
time Time the session was run
subject Participant ID
group Group number
session Session number
build Inquisit version number
q*_response Response given (in assigned values)
Scales
1: 1 (never)-4 (always)
2,3,5: yes (2)/ no(1)
4: 1 (0 times) - 3 (2 or more times)
6, 8: 1 (very wrong)- 4(not wrong at all); "I don't know" -> 3
7: 1 (no risk) - 4 (great risk); "I don't know" -> 3
9: 1 (none)-5 (five or more)
In all questions, higher scores reflect higher risk
q*_latency How much time (in ms) the participant spent on the surveyPage with this particular
question (the last time this particular surveyPage was visited)

Parameters

The procedure can be adjusted by setting the following parameters.

NameDescriptionDefault
pageInstructions The instructions that appear at the top of each surveyPage