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. 2022 May 13;31(2):109-119.
doi: 10.5093/pi2022a8. eCollection 2022 May.

Measuring Perceived Severity of Intimate Partner Violence against Women (IPVAW) among the General Population and IPVAW Offenders

Manuel Martín-Fernández  1 , Enrique Gracia  2 , Marisol Lila  2
Affiliations

Measuring Perceived Severity of Intimate Partner Violence against Women (IPVAW) among the General Population and IPVAW Offenders

Manuel Martín-Fernández et al. Psychosoc Interv. .

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Public perceptions of the severity of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) incidents are an important factor that has been linked to key issues regarding this type of violence, such as acceptability or tolerance, personal sense of responsibility, attitudes toward intervention, and the public's, professionals', and victims' responses to IPVAW. The aim of the present study was to provide further validity evidence for the perceived severity of IPVAW scale (PS-IPVAW), by assessing its measurement invariance between gender and age groups, and between men from the general population and male IPVAW offenders. Item response theory was also used to assess the discrimination of the items and their position on the measured latent trait continuum (i.e., perceived severity of IPVAW). To this end, the psychometric properties of the scale were examined in four different samples from the general population (N = 2,627) and in one clinical sample of male IPVAW offenders (N = 200). Our findings showed that the PS-IPVAW scale has excellent internal consistency (α = .89-.90) and a clear one-factor latent structure (CFI = .91-.96, RMSEA = .055-.086), and that partial strict invariance holds across different gender and age groups. We also found that IPVAW offenders' perceptions of the severity of IPVAW may follow a different pattern to that of men from the general population. The PS-IPVAW scale is able to yield accurate assessments of the perceived severity of this type of violence among the general population and IPVAW offenders.

La percepción pública de la gravedad de los incidentes de violencia contra la mujer en las relaciones de pareja (VMP) es un factor importante relacionado con aspectos clave de este tipo de violencia, como su aceptabilidad o tolerancia, el sentido de responsabilidad personal, las actitudes hacia la intervención y las respuestas a la VMP de la población general, los profesionales y las víctimas. El objetivo de este estudio fue proporcionar nuevas evidencias de validez de la escala PS-IPVAW [Perceived Severity of Intimate Partner Violence against Women], analizando su invarianza factorial entre géneros y distintos grupos de edad y entre hombres de la población general y hombres agresores de pareja. También se utilizó la teoría de respuesta al ítem para evaluar la discriminación de los ítems y su posición en el continuo del rasgo latente evaluado (i.e., la gravedad percibida de la VMP). Se examinaron las propiedades psicométricas de la escala en cuatro muestras de la población general (N = 2,627) y en una muestra clínica de hombres agresores de pareja (N = 200). Los resultados mostraron que la escala PS-IPVAW tuvo una excelente consistencia interna (α = .89-.90), una estructura latente unifactorial (CFI = .91-.96, RMSEA = .055-.086) y que se puede mantener el nivel de invarianza factorial estricta parcial entre géneros y distintos grupos de edad. Se encontró también que los hombres agresores de pareja mostraban un patrón diferencial en la evaluación de la gravedad percibida de la VMP en comparación con hombres de la población general. La escala PS-IPVAW es un instrumento capaz de evaluar de forma precisa la gravedad percibida de la VMP en la población general y en hombres agresores de pareja.

Keywords: Intimate partner violence against women; Intimate partner violence offenders; Item response theory; Measurement invariance; Perceived severity.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors of this article declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Item Category Response Curves (Sample 1).
Figure 2
Figure 2. CFA Model (Sample 2).
Figure 3
Figure 3. Factor Scores Distribution for Men from the General Population and IPVAW Offenders.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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