A short form of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales, and typologies for severity and mutuality

Abstract

The revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) is the most widely used instrument for measuring intimate partner violence. This article presents a short form to enable the CTS2 to be used when testing time is very limited. It also presents procedures that can be used with either the full test or the short form to classify individuals on the basis of severity of behavior toward a partner or by a partner, and to classify couples on the basis of mutuality or symmetry in the behaviors measured by the CTS2. The results indicate that the short form is comparable in validity to the full CTS2. Although the short form does not identify as many cases of partner violence as the full scale, it does identify a large number of cases and if there is insufficient time for the full scale, can be a useful screening instrument.