Interpersonal Behavior Survey (IBS)

P.A. Mauger, Ph.D., D.R. Adkinson, M.A., S.K. Zoss, Ph.D., G. Firestone, Ph.D.,& J.D. Hook, M.A.

The Interpersonal Behavior Survey (IBS) identifies interaction styles that may lead to conflict at home, on the job, or in school.

Used in individual and group therapy, assertiveness training, marriage and family counseling, and career guidance, the IBS measures various dimensions of assertive and aggressive behavior, identifying excesses and deficits in both.

Designed for adults and adolescents, the IBS is a self-report inventory composed of the following scales:

              General Aggressiveness                   Refusing Demands
              Conflict Avoidance                            Verbal Aggressiveness
              Frankness                                         Self-Confidence
              Hostile Stance                                   Denial
              Dependency                                      Physical Aggressiveness
              Praise (Giving/Receiving)                  Initiating Assertiveness
              Expression of Anger                          Infrequency
              Shyness                                             Passive Aggressiveness
              Requesting Help                                Defending Assertiveness
              Disregard for Rights                           Impression Management
              General Assertiveness

The IBS can be administered to individuals or groups in just 45 minutes. For a quicker but still comprehensive assessment, you can use the Short Form IBS Auto-score Form. With just 133 items the Auto-score Form can be completed in about 30 minutes and scored quickly and easily. If you need no more than a brief screening device, you can administer only the first 38 items on the Short Form, which takes 10 minutes or less.

Written at a sixth-grade reading level, the inventory can be used with a broad range of people. The Manual provides sex-specific norms for a general sample and separate norms for African Americans, college students, and adolescents.

The IBS is commonly used in marriage and family counseling to identify interaction styles that may lead to conflict. In individual or group therapy, it can be used to help people distinguish assertive from aggressive behavior. The IBS serves as an excellent pre- and post-treatment measure because the items, written in the present tense, are highly sensitive to change occurring over the course of therapy.