A Questionnaire for the Assessment of Violent Behaviors in Young Couples: The Italian Version of Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ)

Youth Dating Violence, Behavioral Sensitivity, and Emotional Intelligence: A Mediation Analysis

Intimate partner violence is a multidimensional phenomenon encompassing psychological, physical, and sexual components. Violence in young couples is common in our society. This kind of violence is usually bidirectional, which adds to its complexity. This study aimed to explore how victimization (in three dimensions: non-abuse, technical mistreatment, and mistreatment) and perpetration (in two dimensions: non-perpetrator and perpetrator) are related to the BIS (Behavioral Inhibition System)/BAS (Behavioral Approach System), and it also evaluated if the dimensions of emotional intelligence (EI) (emotional attention, clarity, and regulation) mediate this relationship. Violence was evaluated in 272 young volunteer participants, as well as BIS/BAS behavioral sensitivity and perceived emotional intelligence. The correlations between these variables were analyzed, and a mediation analysis was also conducted. The results show that victimization (of the sexual and coercive type) was associated with less BAS activation, while victimization (of the sexual, humiliation, and detachment types) was associated with less BIS activity. All types of victimization were associated with less EI, specifically with less emotional clarity. Aggression (of the sexual, humiliation, detachment, and coercion types) was related to lower BAS and higher BIS sensitivity. Detachment aggression was associated with low emotional clarity. In conclusion, relationships between victimization and perpetration are evidenced in terms of BIS/BAS sensitivity and EI. Specifically, the dimension of EI emotional clarity acts as a mediator of BIS activation in victims of detachment.

Instruments used to measure dating violence: A systematic review of psychometric properties

AIMS

To identify, synthesize and evaluate the psychometric properties of instruments that measure dating violence (DV).

DESIGN

Psychometric systematic literature review.

DATA SOURCES

The databases SCOPUS, PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and Web of Science were searched up to December 2021.

REVIEW METHOD

We evaluated the psychometric properties of the instruments included and their methodological quality using the Consensus-based Standards for the Selection of Health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) checklist and Terwee's quality criteria. The Modified Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) was used to rate the best available evidence. The entire process was carried out by three independent reviewers. The review was registered at PROSPERO (registry number CRD42020161137).

RESULTS

A total of 35 studies evaluated 29 instruments measuring DV. Most studies reported data on content validity, structural validity and internal consistency. No studies tested measurement error and responsiveness. Only one instruments tested cross-cultural validity. It is of interest that the data reported for content validity were the worst evaluated, despite the fact that content validity is one of the key properties in developing and validating the measuring instrument.

CONCLUSIONS

There are a significant number of instruments published in this field, and it is important to evaluate and show their psychometric properties to help select evidence-based instruments. After carrying out the evaluation following the COSMIN guidelines, the authors of this study recommend that the three most suitable instruments are CADRI, WAS/Chinese version and PMWI-SF/Portuguese version (in that order).

IMPACT

Identifying and evaluating DV is the first step in designing effective interventions. To achieve this, it is necessary to have validated instruments with suitable psychometric properties. To date, this is the only published systematic review evaluating the psychometric properties of instruments that measure DV which reports on their methodological qualities. The results we found show a growing trend in developing new instruments, with the most suitable approach being to make a cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the instrument that best suits the value to be measured. In this way, data can be compared between different countries and standardized health care plans and policies designed to achieve better health outcomes. This study may help future researchers to choose the most suitable instrument for their research.

Dating Violence Questionnaire for Victimization and Perpetration (DVQ-VP): An interdependence analysis of self-reports

Background/Objective: Although measurement instruments for intimate partner violence (IPV) are available, their validity considering the interdependence of victimization and perpetration self-reports based on dyadic reports has not been tested. The aim was to test the validity and reliability of a new version of the Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ–R) that includes the interdependence of victimization and perpetration self-reports using current couple information. Method: Participants were young adults comprising 616 current heterosexual couples. Each dyad member responded to the victimization and perpetration versions of the DVQ-R independently from their partner. Results: The victimization-perpetration interdependence model based on dyadic data showed a good fit to the data and was invariant across sexes. All the factors were significantly correlated with each other and were reliable. Conclusions: The DVQ is a valid and reliable measurement instrument for the independent assessment of IPV perpetration and victimization in adolescent and young adult populations and an interdependent measure of IPV victimization and perpetration. The DVQ–VP is invariant across sexes, which makes the results obtained for males and females comparable. These results show the relevance of considering perpetration and victimization together and emphasize the necessity to be cautious regarding the excessive reliability of individual self-reported perpetration or victimization to obtain more precise knowledge.

Relationships of Adolescent and Young Couples with Violent Behaviors: Conflict Resolution Strategies

Violence in adolescent and young couples is a major issue given its high prevalence and the serious consequences that it brings. For this reason, this research has stated two main objectives. In the first place, to ascertain the level of agreement between both members of the couple both with regard to occurrence and frequency of violence. Second, to ascertain the level of agreement on the frequency of use of conflict resolution strategies in problematic situations in 141 heterosexual couples. The age of the sample was between 17 and 30. The tools used were the DVQ-R questionnaire and the Spanish adaptation by Bonache, Ramírez-Santana, and González-Mendez (2016) of the Inventory of Conflict Resolution Styles (CSRI)The results indicate that of the 141 couples in the sample, 112 were identified as violent, thus indicating a high prevalence of violence within their partner relationships. Regarding the levels of agreement and accordance, statistically significant discrepancies are reflected in the perception of violence between men and women, analyzing both roles (aggression and victimization). Finally, also noteworthy is use of the strategy of negative involvement in conflicts, with significant differences in relation to sex; it is the girls who make the most use of this strategy, and the high level of agreement on the frequency of problem-solving is reflected on that strategy.

Psychometric Properties of the Dating Violence Questionnaire: Reviewing the Evidence in Chilean Youths

The Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ) is a 42-item questionnaire that measures victimization in romantic relationships between young people, through eight interrelated scales assessing detachment, humiliation, coercion, emotional punishment, gender-based, sexual, physical, and instrumental violence. It has been validated in a myriad of countries and languages and is commonly used in Spanish-speaking countries; however, two scales (emotional punishment and instrumental violence) have shown reliability issues. The aim of present study is to analyze the psychometric proprieties of the adapted version of the DVQ for the Chilean population, reviewing evidence of structure validity, external validity, and reliability-using polychoric and ordinal analysis-and including new items to improve instrumental and emotional punishment scales (DVQ+). Eight hundred forty-six high school and university students (14-24 years old) participated in the study. Results showed that both DVQ and DVQ+ versions had an adequate fit with the original correlated eight-factor model (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .023; comparative fit index [CFI] = .97, in both cases), as well as with a more parsimonious second-order factor model (RMSEA = .024-.025; CFI = .97-.97, respectively). Reliability analysis also showed both version presented satisfactory values for internal consistency. Finally, scores of DVQ were correlated-as expected-negatively with quality of the relationship and positively with fear, perceived abuse, and attachment-related anxiety, thus providing new evidences of validity.

Adolescent Conflict and Young Adult Couple Relationships: Directionality of Violence

The objective of this research was to study victimization and aggression in adolescent and young couple relationships, as well as to identify the directionality of violence perpetration in a sample of 984 people between 15 and 31 years of age, of which 58.2% were women and 41.8% were men. Regarding the educational level of the population under study, 26% were students of junior high school, senior high school, or vocational training and 56.5% were college students. The research design followed the nonprobability purposive sampling method and used the DVQ-R questionnaire. The results suggest that violence is 65.2% bidirectional and 14.30% unidirectional, being bidirectionality more frequent in psychological violence and decreasing when physical violence occurs. The results reveal the need to integrate the different modalities of dating violence (unidirectional and bidirectional) and unperceived violence -that gives rise to technical abuse- into the different prevention programs addressed to adolescents and youth.

Validation of Dating Violence Questionnarie-R (DVQ-R)

Despite the growing interest in the study of dating violence, relatively few psychometrically sound instruments are available to researchers. To provide an instrument to researchers and professionals to assess victimization in dating relationships, with adequate psychometric properties. Method: Participants were 6,138 adolescents drawn from the general population, 25% of which were university students. Participants responded to the original Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ). Results: Confirmatory analyses results provided evidence of a clear factorial structure that was invariant through sex groups. The DVQ-R measures with 20 items five dimensions of abuse in affective interpersonal relationships of adolescents and youth: Detachment, Humiliation, Coercion, Physical and Sexual violence. Internal consistency indexes were adequate for both each one of the five dimensions as well as for the general scale. Conclusions: The DVQ-R is an useful assessment to be applied in adolescents and youth. Implications for research and intervention are discussed in light of the results obtained.