Psychometric properties of persian version of malevolent creativity behavior scale in a sample of iranian students

Background and Purpose: Creativity is generally considered a positive attribute.However, certain aspects of creativity can manifest as malevolent behavior.Measuring this malevolent aspect of creativity requires a valid scale.The purpose of this research was to determine the psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale (MCBS;Hao et al., 2016) to evaluate the malevolent creativity of Iranian students.Method: The present study was a descriptive-survey study that evaluated the psychometric properties of the MCBS, including various types of validity and reliability.The study population included all senior high school students (15 to 18 years old) in District 1 of Rasht, Iran, during the 2023-2024 academic year.Then a sample of 393 students was selected among this population through random cluster sampling and they responded to the MCBS.Validity was assessed using face validity, content validity, and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).Reliability was evaluated using internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha), split-half reliability, and composite reliability.Data were analyzed using SPSS -26 and AMOS -24.Results: To evaluate psychometric indices for validity, face validity was assessed qualitatively and quantitatively and content validity was assessed using the content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI).Results indicated adequate qualitative and quantitative face validity, with all item impact scores exceeding 1.5.The CVR and CVI scores for the scale items were also adequate, exceeding 0.8.CFA results confirmed the three-factor structure (hurting people, lying, and playing tricks) with good model fit indices.Reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, split-half reliability, and composite reliability.Cronbach's alpha was 0.79, 0.82, and 0.68 for the three factors, respectively, and 0.83 for the total scale.Split-half reliability (0.66) and composite reliability (0.91) were also satisfactory. Conclusion:Based on the present study's findings and the importance of evaluating malevolent creativity, the Persian version of the MCBS appears to be a suitable tool for evaluating this concept in students.Further research is recommended to administer and standardize this scale among different age groups and populations with varying characteristics.