Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method

Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo

doi:doi:10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11

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Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method

Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo^*

Published in International Journal of Psychological Science (Volume 4, Issue 2)

Received: 25 March 2024 Accepted: 9 April 2024 Published: 28 April 2024

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Abstract

Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, constitutes a major social scourge recorded in virtually every country in the world. Despite the fact that previous studies investigating this societal phenomenon have evaluated it from various perspectives, little is known about how it is experienced by victims. However, the lack of knowledge of this experience prevents us from understanding that despite the fact that they are involved in relationships marked by violence, many women do not leave them, thus putting their physical and psychological health at risk. To help fill this gap, this research constructs and validates a new scale specific to experienced domestic violence. After formulating and verifying its items, a validation study was conducted with a sample of 406 female participants, aged between 18 and 61 years (M=29.63; SD=8,688). Factor analyses report that this measure has a one-dimensional factor structure with 12 items. The reliability indices are satisfactory (α=.95). The same goes for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. The scale of experienced domestic violence has a general scope which will allow researchers to carry out an in depth investigation into the psychological, social, economic and political causes and consequences of experienced domestic violence with a view, in particular, to considering interventions for the recovery of the victims.

Published in	International Journal of Psychological Science (Volume 4, Issue 2)
DOI	10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11
Page(s)	21-31
Creative Commons	This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright	Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Experienced Domestic Violence, Experienced Domestic Violence Scale, Emotional Violence, Physical Violence, Sexual Violence

1. Introduction

Domestic violence or intimate partner violence is a major social problem in virtually every country in the world

[62]

. In fact, around 30% of women aged 15 and over experience physical and/or sexual violence during their life from their intimate partner or a third person

[61]

. Africa is one of the continents where the prevalence of this phenomenon is high, since on average 36% of women experience it each year

[44]

. This phenomenon includes harassment, sexual and physical abuse, as well as emotional violence

[29]

. It is a practice of victimization that inflicts psychological, emotional, physical and social damage on victims

[19]

manifested concretely by emotional pain, a feeling of shame or embarrassment, or fear of reporting the violent partner to friends or family

[23]

The need for further research on domestic violence has motivated researchers to validate a set of measures that address it from various perspectives. In general, it is assessed with a focus on spousal abuse

[28]

, violence as a conflict tactic

[52]

, violence within Gay and Bisexual couples

[50]

or from the point of view of its severity

[43]

. Despite the solid structuring of this psychometric literature, the fact remains that until now, it has neglected the aspect relating to domestic violence as it is experienced by women. This experienced domestic violence involves the feelings of the victims, their own experiences, or the meaning they give to their situations

[34]

; important aspects that we believe are necessary to explore to understand in depth the causes and effects of the personal experience of this phenomenon for the people who are its victims. In this vein, the objective of the present study is to construct and validate a measure of experienced domestic violence, to fill the gap left by the literature. It is carried out using a sample of women from Cameroon, a country where between 2014 and 2015, the prevalence rate of this phenomenon increased from 47% to 53%

[30]

; which constitutes a dazzling increase and justifies the fact that the present study is interested in it in this specific social context.

1.1. Domestic Violence and Its Socio-Psychological Effects

Domestic violence involves the domination of one partner over the other. It can take two specific forms: intimate terrorism and situational violence within the couple

[31]

. Intimate terrorism involves the perpetrator of domestic violence imposing strict control over the partner, through emotional violence, use of children, isolation, threats, intimidation, economic abuse and reproaches. Situational violence, for its part, refers to altercations between partners; these can degenerate into escalations of violence, but without proof of control by the aggressor over the victim

[33]

. If situational violence within the couple can be seen from the perspective of family conflicts

[2]

, intimate terrorism, for its part, arises in a patriarchal context promoting male domination

[20]

. Although this violence occurs in varied conditions, it can mutate into severe episodes and, thus, have damaging effects on the victims and even their environment.

Domestic violence can have severe psychological and social consequences

[43]

. Concretely, it can cause panic attacks, anxiety, depression, suicide attempts, inability to cope, non-suicidal self-harm, post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol or drug abuse, which can disrupt the victim’s psychological and mental health

[5, 16]

. The severity of its effects varies depending on the geographic area and the socio-economic situation of the victim. Essentially, research indicates that the majority of women at risk of experiencing domestic violence and its effects are found in Asia and Africa

[60]

. In Africa, particularly, it is sometimes considered as a means of resolving conflicts and educating the partner

[55]

. It is often perpetrated in the presence of children; hence the fact that it can impact them, in particular by hindering their socio-emotional, moral and cognitive development

[34]

. This is why it is necessary to name them, recognize them, and admit their suffering to give them visibility

[40]

, particularly because their victim status, just like that of their mother, implies that they potentially experience traumatic events.

1.2. Experienced Domestic Violence: A Traumatic Situation

Experienced domestic violence characterizes the fact, for people, of being exposed to violence from their intimate partner or of suffering it

[40]

. They must be specifically affected by the said violence so that they are able to report its nuances, in terms of form, severity, duration, and impact in their own lives

[8, 48]

, due to acts of violence of a psychological (being intimidated, having one’s comings and goings or relationships controlled), physical (being hit or strangled), sexual (being raped, forced to watch pornographic scenes), or symbolic nature that they suffered (seeing their objects being intentionally broken or their pets being intentionally tortured)

[12]

. Researchers suggest that experiencing domestic violence involves being exposed to a traumatic situation characterized by the prevalence of internalized disorders, depressive symptoms, anxiety, difficulty regulating emotions and also symptoms of post-traumatic stress

[3, 24, 41].

Research argues that experienced domestic violence involves variability in the way people report and make sense of their experience; hence the possible variability in the implementation of resources likely to help victims overcome it

[21]

. The type of society in which they operate plays an important role in this perspective. Concretely, people living in patriarchal societies have a specific mode of expressing their experience of this violence

[37]

. The main characteristic of these societies lies in the fact that men hold the power

[13]

; thus consecrating their domination coupled with oppression of women

[38]

. This is the case in many traditional Cameroonian societies where domestic violence can be considered as a mode of conflict resolution and education of the wife by her husband

[55]

. In other words, in this cultural context, experiencing domestic violence contributes to the enforcement of cultural and social norms, even if this constitutes a violation of women’s rights

[34]

. This posture is all the more justified because in the Cameroonian context, the woman being generally the husband’s junior, she owes him obedience, even submission. Moreover, due to the prevailing precariousness, women say they have no other choice but to stay with the men they have found, even at the cost of their lives, because finding a husband is not easy

[34]

. As a result, within the Bamiléké and Béti ethnic groups, for example, women can be victims of domestic violence if they are not submissive to their husbands, considered the head of the household

[32]

. Among the Béti specifically, women come to sing a hymn legitimizing domestic violence which is declaimed in these terms: “I like it when my husband beats me, there I feel that my lion still has all his strength”

[14, 34]

1.3. Measuring Domestic Violence

To study domestic violence, several scales have been developed. These include the Index of Spouse Abuse

[28]

, the Abuse Risk Inventory

[63]

, the Composite Abuse Scale

[25]

, and the Conflict Tactics Scale

[51]

. These instruments that assess various forms of domestic violence have gaps in the comprehensive examination of their psychometric properties

[43]

. Unfortunately, the measures that have been developed to resolve these problems have not succeeded. For example, the Danger Assessment scale

[6]

makes it possible to measure risk factors for homicide between intimate partners, but does not focus on examining the victims’ capacity to report their own experience of domestic violence, therefore specifically on the domestic violence experienced. This is also the case for the Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment

[26]

and the Spousal Assault Risk Assessment scale

[36]

Beyond the scales listed above, recent studies have constructed and validated measures assessing individuals’ perceptions of domestic violence. For example, a scale evaluates four categories of perception of intimate partner violence: legitimization of intimate partner violence (victim blame and justification), acceptance of intimate partner violence (approval, tolerance), attitude towards interventions in cases of intimate partner violence (willingness to help, propensity to intervene), and perception of the severity of intimate partner violence (minimization)

[23]

. This measure is used by researchers who want to assess individuals’ perceptions of intimate partner violence

[39]

. The fact is that the perception of the degree of severity of domestic violence can lead to considering interventions to support victims and those around them

[43]

. However, the essential shortcoming of this measure is that it does not offer the possibility of identifying the experience of domestic violence by the victims themselves. This research aims to contribute to filling this gap.

1.4. The Current Research: The Need for a Scale to Measure Experienced Domestic Violence

Despite the efforts of the specialized literature to measure domestic violence in various contexts

[15]	El Sayed, S. A., DeShay, R. A., Davis, J. B., Knox, K. N., & Kerley, K. R. (2020). A blue step forward: An exploratory study of law enforcement perceptions of intimate partner violence in the southern United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520966675 View Article
[17]	Expósito, F., Moya, M. C., & Glick, P. (1998). Sexismo ambivalente: medición y correlatos. [Ambivalent sexism: Measurement and correlates]. Revista de Psicología Social, 13(2), 159-169. https://doi.org/10.1174/021347498760350641 View Article
[42]	Lila, M., Martín-Fernández, M., Gracia, E., López-Ossorio, J. J., & González, J. L. (2019). Identifying key predictors of recidivism among offenders attending a batterer intervention program: A survival analysis. Psychosocial Intervention, 28(3), 157-167. https://doi.org/10.5093/pi2019a19 View Article
[43]	Martin-Fernandez, M., Garcia, E., & Lila, M. (2022). Measuring perceived severity of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) among the general population and IPVAW offenders. Psychosocial Intervention, 31(2), 109-119. https://doi.org/10.5093/pi2022a8 View Article
[49]	Sani, A. I., Coelho, A., & Manita, C. (2018). Intervention in domestic violence situations: Police attitudes and beliefs. Psychology, Community and Health, 7(1), 72-86. https://doi.org/10.5964/pch.v7i1.247 View Article
[56]	Vargas, V., Lila, M., Catalá-Miñana, A., & Gracia, E. (2017). Españoles e Inmigrantes Latinoamericanos condenados por violencia de género: ¿existe un perfil diferencial? [Spanish and Latin-American immigrants convicted by intimate partner violence: Is there a differential profile?]. Acción Psicológica, 14(2), 51-68. https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.14.2.20753 View Article
[58]	Villagrán, A. M., Martín-Fernández, M., Gracia, E., & Lila, M. (2022). Validación de la escala de aceptabilidad de la violencia de pareja contra la mujer (A-IPVAW) en población ecuatoriana [Validation of the acceptability of intimate partner violence against women (A-IPVAW) scale in Ecuadorian population]. Revista Iberoamericana de Diagnóstico y Evaluación - e Avaliação Psicológica, 62(1), 67-81. https://doi.org/10.21865/RIDEP62.1.06 View Article

[15, 17, 42, 43, 49, 56, 58]

, certain aspects of that social phenomena remain little explored, due to lack of an appropriate tool to account for them. This is the case of experienced domestic violence; hence the need to develop an instrument for measuring this construct. This is the objective of the present study. In doing so, its contribution would be to ensure that victims of domestic violence understand their feelings, their own experience, the meaning they give to their situation, as well as the beliefs and thoughts associated with it

[34]

. Concretely, the development and validation of the scale of experienced domestic violence is carried out following four stages: 1) the assembly of a measurement panel around domestic violence to help formulate the appropriate items for experienced domestic violence, and administer it, along with other validation measures, to test its exploratory factor structure; 2) the analysis of the confirmatory factor structure of the scale using the structural equation model and analysis of its internal consistency; 3) the analysis of the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale; and 4) testing the predictive validity of the scale.

2. Method

2.1. Participants

This study was carried out on a sample of 406 female participants residing in the city of Dschang (Cameroon). They are aged between 18 and 61 years old (M=29.63; SD=8.688). We took into account their marital status (197 married and 209 single), level of study (17 from primary education level, 126 from secondary education level, and 263 from higher education level), and the duration of the couple relationship (71 had a relationship of at least one year, 98 had a relationship that lasted between 1 and 3 years, 75 had a relationship that lasted between 3 and 5 years, and 162 had a relationship that lasted 5 years or more). Research ethics were ensured by obtaining verbal consent from participants before administering the questionnaire. They were also assured of respect for the anonymity and confidentiality of their responses.

2.2. Material and Procedure

The procedure for generating a sample of items in this study consisted of bringing together a set of measures developed around domestic violence. This operation resulted in the formulation of a sample of 20 items addressing the construct of experienced domestic violence. These items were independently examined by a panel of teachers from the University of Dschang (Cameroon). During their discussions on each item, elements were either modified (due to the language being too complex), or deleted (due to repetitions), or kept as it is. At the end of this procedure, 12 items were retained and administered to the participants to test the validity of the scale to be developed.

Other measures were administered to participants to ensure the validity of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale. Indeed, several studies report that the difficulty in implementing strategies to confront partner violence plays an essential role in the perpetuation of the experience of domestic violence

[14, 22, 64]

. Consequently, participants in this study responded to a measure assessing the perceived lack of alternatives for dealing with domestic violence

[64]

. This measure contains 2 items (α=.65), one example of which suggests that “A woman should move if her husband hits her at home”.

Research also reports that domestic violence constitutes a kind of legitimization of male domination

[7, 33]

. To verify this, participants were administered a gender-specific system justification scale

[57]

. In this study, 4 items (α=.67) were used to assess this disposition. One of these items proposes that: “Women and men leave with the same chances in life”.

Modern sexism was measured with 2 items (α=.75)

[53]

. For example, item 1 suggests that: “Women are generally not as intelligent as men”. Contemporary sexism, for its part, was assessed using 2 items (α=.72)

[7]

. As an example, item 3 suggests that: “Women will make more progress by being patient and not thinking too much about change”.

For each measure administered, participants revealed their opinions on a 7-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The data collection instrument also included questions allowing the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants to be collected (sex, age, marital status, level of education and duration of the couple relationship).

3. Results

Estimates of the structure of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale (EDVS) were made using the data analysis software JASP.17.1.0 and SPSS version 23.0. The procedure for presenting the results consists of first reporting the results of the exploratory factor analyses contained in Tables 1, 2 and 3; then the results of the confirmatory factor analyses from Figure 1 and Table 4; then the results of the analyses of convergent and discriminant validity in Table 5; and finally the results of the predictive validity analyses in Table 6.

Table 1. Descriptive statistics according to the items of the experienced domestic violence scale (N=406).

	Plage	Min.	Max.	M	SD	Skew.	Kurt.
EDV_1	6	1	7	3.17	1.844	.270	-1.174
EDV_2	6	1	7	3.05	1.765	.315	-1.030
EDV_3	6	1	7	2.90	1.735	.416	-1.021
EDV_4	6	1	7	2.88	1.776	.535	-.786
EDV_5	6	1	7	2.96	1.759	.412	-.951
EDV_6	6	1	7	2.92	1.810	.463	-1.021
EDV_7	6	1	7	2.84	1.792	.484	-1.010
EDV_8	6	1	7	2.69	1.678	.594	-.712
EDV_9	6	1	7	2.82	1.712	.497	-.769
EDV_10	6	1	7	3.02	1.706	.354	-.790
EDV_11	6	1	7	2.70	1.559	.516	-.590
EDV_12	6	1	7	2.79	1.600	.447	-.589

Note: Max=Maximum; Min=Minimum; M=Means; SD=Standard Deviation; Skew=Skewness; Kurt=Kurtosis; EDV = Experienced Domestic Violence

Table 1 reports the scores of the means and standard deviations of the 12 items of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale, thus confirming that these scores are actually distributed on a Likert type scale ranging from 1 to 7, so that a high score on the average of each item (M=3.5) would imply a high experience of domestic violence. Specifically regarding the scores of the participants in this study, Table 1 indicates that they are between 2.69 and 3.17; which reflects a low experience of domestic violence. The results obtained from this procedure involve undertaking factor analyses of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale which are presented below.

Table 2. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test, Bartlett test and Total variance explained by the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale.

KMO and Bartlett’s Test				Initial Eigenvalues
KMO	Bartlett’s Test			Factors	Total	% of Variance	Cumulative %
	χ²	df	p
.935	4820.201	66	.000	1	7.893	65.772	65.772

The preliminary results of the Exploratory Factor Analyses (EFA) carried out using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett’s sphericity tests are reported in Table 2. According to

[54]

the accepted size of the test of KMO should be equal to or greater than .60. The data in this table report adequate indices (KMO=.935 and χ2=4820.201, p<.01, df=66). These tests indicate that the data is suitable for factoring. Furthermore, Table 2 predicts a solution of the one-factor scale which contains eigenvalues which convey 65.77% of the total variance of the scale, and which are greater than the proportion of 50% recommended for a significant factorial solution

[18]

. Item loadings are presented in Table 3.

Table 3. Factor indices resulting from the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) of the items of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale.

Items	Factor indices
I feel bad that my current partner:
EDV_1: talks to me badly;	.802
EDV_2: answers me violently;	.837
EDV_3: denigrates me;	.835
EDV_4: punishes me;	.850
EDV_5: don’t defend me;	.805
EDV_6: doesn’t want to protect me;	.834
EDV_7: forces me to have intimate/sexual relations with him;	.841
EDV_8: mistreats me;	.879
EDV_9: reminds me that he doesn’t want me anymore;	.841
EDV_10: cheats on me with other women;	.709
EDV_11: doesn’t care about my health;	.771
EDV_12: don’t eat at home.	.710
Note: EDV= Experienced Domestic Violence

As shown in Table 3, the verification of the conceptual grouping into a factor was carried out through an analysis with varimax rotation, based on the idea that the elements of the factor should be linked to each other. Furthermore, to know if the observed factor is acceptable, it was considered that the minimum eigenvalue must have at least three items loading on said factor

[10, 54]

. The following criteria were precisely used to verify the factor loadings: 1) an item loaded above 0.63 is considered a good loading for the factor; 2) no cross-loading at 0.32 or more in another factor should allow the item to be accepted as part of the factor

[54]

. Table 3 then indicates that the items belonging to the single factor of the scale have loadings between .70 and .87, higher than the factor loading threshold (.63) taken into account in this study

[10, 54]

, thus presaging the possibility of carrying out the confirmatory factor analysis reported in Figure 1.

Download: Download full-size image

Figure 1. Confirmatory factor analysis model of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale.

The confirmatory factor analysis of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale was carried out using structural modeling to assess the fit to the data taking into account standard fit indices, including the chi-square (χ2), the d index Comparative Fit Index (CFI), the Normative Fit Index (NFI), the Tuker-Lewis Index (TLI), the Incremental Fit Index (IFI), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) and the Standardized Root Mean Square Residual (SRMR). The CFI, NFI, TLI, and IFI are incremental adjustment indices whose values higher than .90 indicate a better fit, alongside RMSEA and SRMR which must have values less than or equal to .08 for a good adjustment of the model, or less than or equal to .10 for a moderate fit

[1, 27]

. The case of the model of this study then shows a good fit of the model to the data (χ2=300.891; df=54; p<.05; CFI=.996; NFI=.995; TLI=.996; IFI=.996; SRMR=.046; RMSEA=.106; p<.05). As a result, these scores make it possible to examine the reliability indices of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale presented in Table 4.

Table 4. Correlations between items and the global scale and internal consistency (α) of items and the global scale.

	1.	2.	3.	4.	5.	6.	7.	8.	9.	10.	11.	12.	13.
EDV_1	(0.94)
EDV_2	.788^**	(0.94)
EDV_3	.708^**	.750^**	(0.94)
EDV_4	.639^**	.704^**	.747^**	(0.94)
EDV_5	.606^**	.615^**	.644^**	.712^**	(0.94)
EDV_6	.605^**	.701^**	.638^**	.666^**	.687^**	(0.94)
EDV_7	.649^**	.669^**	.665^**	.640^**	.593^**	.724^**	(0.94)
EDV_8	.633^**	.678^**	.693^**	.731^**	.626^**	.747^**	.797^**	(0.94)
EDV_9	.611^**	.617^**	.619^**	.703^**	.633^**	.656^**	.738^**	.776^**	(0.94)
EDV_10	.557^**	.538^**	.501^**	.516^**	.515^**	.544^**	.566^**	.608^**	.569^**	(0.95)
EDV_11	.513^**	.524^**	.612^**	.620^**	.620^**	.588^**	.559^**	.626^**	.651^**	.575^**	(0.94)
EDV_12	.470^**	.526^**	.505^**	.546^**	.569^**	.518^**	.539^**	.591^**	.578^**	.472^**	.656^**	(0.95)
EDV	.805^**	.838^**	.833^**	.848^**	.806^**	.833^**	.840^**	.875^**	.838^**	.715^**	.770^**	.711^**	(0.95)

Note: **. p<0.01; EDV=Experienced Domestic Violence

For the literature, a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient greater than or equal to .70 indicates an acceptable value

[11, 47]

. In this study, an analysis of Cronbach’s alpha, the scores of which can be found in Table 4, made it possible to obtain a value that was both good and satisfactory (α=.95). This value is verified by the Cronbach alpha coefficients of the scale items which vary between .94 and .95. In parallel, analyses of the interrelations between the items of the scale and the overall scale were carried out in order to evaluate the validity of the construct itself. The results indicate that the scores of the inter-item relationships are between .42 and .79 and the scores of the relationships between the items and the overall scale are between .71 and .87; thus revealing good validity of the construct (the threshold value for inter-item discrimination being .30;

[59]

Table 5. Correlation statistics between the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale and other theoretically linked measures.

Measure	1	2	3	4	5
1. Perceived lack of alternatives to deal with violence	__
2. Gender system Justification	.271^**	__
3. Modern sexism	-.073	-.088	__
4. Contemporary sexism	.025	-.027	.445^**	__
5. Experienced domestic violence	-.262^**	-.178^**	.349^**	.357^**	__
Mean	34.74	9.03	19.52	6.65	18.79
Std. Deviation	16.808	3.555	4.764	2.750	5.817

Note: **. p<0.01

To test the convergent and discriminant validity of the experienced domestic violence scale, an analysis of the relationships between this scale and theoretically linked measures was carried out using a validity threshold of r=.30 (Wang et al., 2007). The table above presents the results of these analyses. It shows that experienced domestic violence is positively and significantly linked to modern sexism (r=.34**, p<.01) and contemporary sexism (r=.35**, p<.01), but negatively linked to lack of perceived alternatives to deal with domestic violence (r=-.26**, p<.01) and gender system justification (r=-.17**, p<.01). These results then indicate that on the one hand, the scale has good convergent validity by being linked to modern and contemporary sexism; and on the other hand, it has discriminant validity by being weakly and negatively related to the perceived lack of alternatives to deal with domestic violence and to gender system justification. These scores then make it possible to carry out the multi-group comparison analysis presented in Table 6.

Table 6. Comparison statistics between groups on the experienced domestic violence scale.

	Variables	M	SD	SE	t	p	CI 95 %
							Inferior	Superior
Pair 1	EDV by single	37.33	16.142	1.156	2.851	.005	1.516	8.320
	EDV by married	32.42	17.162	1.229
Pair 2	EDV by people at primary education level	37.41	14.418	3.497	.532	.602	-8.611	14.376
	EDV by people at secondary education level	34.53	16.704	4.051
Pair 3	EDV by people at primary education level	37.41	14.418	3.497	2.016	.061	-.515	20.515
	EDV by people at higher education level	27.41	14.565	3.532
Pair 4	EDV by people at secondary education level	32.44	15.763	1.41	.172	.864	-4.129	4.913
	EDV by people at higher education level	32.05	16.994	1.52

Note: CI= 95% Confidence Interval of the difference; EDV= Experienced Domestic Violence

Table 6 reports the results of the analyses of the predictive validity of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale by showing the variability in the average scores between the categories of participants, based on their socio-demographic characteristics. Comparison analyses between participants show that depending on marital status, single participants experience domestic violence (M=37.33, SD=16.14) more than married participants (M=32.42, SD=17.16, t=2.85, p<.05). Depending on the education level, participants who have just completed primary education experience domestic violence (M=37.41, SD= 14.41) more than those who have completed secondary education (M=14.56, SD=16.70, t=.52, p˃.05) and those having completed the higher education (M=27.41, SD=14.56, t=2.01, p˃.05). The results of these mean comparison analyses provide evidence of variability in participants’ scores across categories, reporting good predictive validity of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale. Overall, the analyses show that the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale developed in this research has good psychometric characteristics.

4. Discussion

This study aimed to construct and validate a measure for evaluating domestic violence experienced in the Cameroonian societal context where the prevalence rate of this practice is considerable

[30]

. In doing so, the present research aimed to contribute to filling the gaps in the literature on intimate partner violence

[15]	El Sayed, S. A., DeShay, R. A., Davis, J. B., Knox, K. N., & Kerley, K. R. (2020). A blue step forward: An exploratory study of law enforcement perceptions of intimate partner violence in the southern United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520966675 View Article
[17]	Expósito, F., Moya, M. C., & Glick, P. (1998). Sexismo ambivalente: medición y correlatos. [Ambivalent sexism: Measurement and correlates]. Revista de Psicología Social, 13(2), 159-169. https://doi.org/10.1174/021347498760350641 View Article
[42]	Lila, M., Martín-Fernández, M., Gracia, E., López-Ossorio, J. J., & González, J. L. (2019). Identifying key predictors of recidivism among offenders attending a batterer intervention program: A survival analysis. Psychosocial Intervention, 28(3), 157-167. https://doi.org/10.5093/pi2019a19 View Article
[43]	Martin-Fernandez, M., Garcia, E., & Lila, M. (2022). Measuring perceived severity of intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW) among the general population and IPVAW offenders. Psychosocial Intervention, 31(2), 109-119. https://doi.org/10.5093/pi2022a8 View Article
[49]	Sani, A. I., Coelho, A., & Manita, C. (2018). Intervention in domestic violence situations: Police attitudes and beliefs. Psychology, Community and Health, 7(1), 72-86. https://doi.org/10.5964/pch.v7i1.247 View Article
[56]	Vargas, V., Lila, M., Catalá-Miñana, A., & Gracia, E. (2017). Españoles e Inmigrantes Latinoamericanos condenados por violencia de género: ¿existe un perfil diferencial? [Spanish and Latin-American immigrants convicted by intimate partner violence: Is there a differential profile?]. Acción Psicológica, 14(2), 51-68. https://doi.org/10.5944/ap.14.2.20753 View Article
[58]	Villagrán, A. M., Martín-Fernández, M., Gracia, E., & Lila, M. (2022). Validación de la escala de aceptabilidad de la violencia de pareja contra la mujer (A-IPVAW) en población ecuatoriana [Validation of the acceptability of intimate partner violence against women (A-IPVAW) scale in Ecuadorian population]. Revista Iberoamericana de Diagnóstico y Evaluación - e Avaliação Psicológica, 62(1), 67-81. https://doi.org/10.21865/RIDEP62.1.06 View Article

[15, 17, 42, 43, 49, 56, 58]

. The validated scale is composed of 12 items. The AFE and AFC showed that its structure has a good fit of the model to the data with values that respect the recommendations in this domain

[1, 27]

. In addition, the scale has good and acceptable internal consistency, respecting the standard recommended by the literature

[11, 47]

. For convergent and discriminant validity, the study assessed the relationship between the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale and theoretically related measures. The results show that experienced domestic violence is weakly and negatively related to the perceived lack of alternatives to deal with intimate partner violence, as well as to gender system justification, thus marking the discriminatory nature of the constructed scale.

Unlike other studies which reported a positive relationship between domestic violence and the legitimization of relations of domination between men and women

[14, 43, 46]

, the results of the present work reveal that experienced domestic violence is negatively related to gender system justification. This observation could be explained by the fact that through its capacity to involve an awareness of one’s own experience of domestic violence, the experienced domestic violence could encourage the questioning of hegemonic and dominant discourses which promote adherence to stereotypes denying and at the same time justifying domestic violence

[9, 45]

. Future research could further examine this possibility which was not critically examined in the present research. Additionally, future research could assess the degree to which experienced domestic violence might elicit, in women, the capacity to derationalize gender-based domination, specifically by assessing the possibility that the experience of intimate partner violence might motivate participation to feminist demonstrations.

The results of the predictive validity of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale constructed within the framework of this work show that it makes it possible to obtain variability in the respondents’ scores. Thus, in this study it turned out that depending on the level of education, respondents who had only completed primary education experience domestic violence more strongly than respondents who had completed secondary and higher education. These results contribute to the extension of observations made, especially in Cameroon, showing that marital relations are marked by male domination and a lack of intimacy

[32, 35, 55]

. Furthermore, the observation of this study reports that women who have stopped their education at the primary level and who experience domestic violence are generally those whose couples are characterized by a lack of intimacy.

Ultimately, the results of this research allow us to consider that the constructed Experienced Domestic Violence Scale has qualities which allow it to be used by researchers, beyond Cameroon where it was constructed and tested. These qualities also arise from the fact that its items are formulated with a general scope giving it a universal character. In terms of practical implications, this scale could contribute, as was the case in this study, to identify the categories of people actually experiencing domestic violence and, to the extent possible, to analyze the consequences at the psychological, social, economic and political levels that this violence can generate. In addition to this identification, the scale can, after use, lead to considering intervention strategies that can promote the recovery of people affected by experienced domestic violence.

5. Conclusion

Although the literature on domestic violence is abundant, from theoretical, methodological and empirical points of view, the fact remains that the experience of this societal phenomenon by victims remains poorly documented, in particular because a measure to evaluate it has not yet been proposed. This research aimed to fill this gap. The instrument that it constructed and validated presents good metrological parameters which allow us to say that it is valid, particularly from the point of view of its internal consistency index (α=.95) as well as its convergent, discriminative and predictive validities. With this instrument, researchers will be able to assess the feelings of victims of a worrying global phenomenon which is growing in scale if we take into account the available epidemiological data. In doing so, intervention strategies aimed at providing help to victims could be considered by targeting the psychological damage that domestic violence generates for them.

Abbreviations

JASP: Jeffreys’s Amazing Statistics Program

SPSS: Statistical Package for Social Sciences

Author Contributions

Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo is the sole author. The author read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding

This research did not benefit from any institutional funding.

Conflicts of Interest

The author declares no conflicts of interest.

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Mouafo, A. V. D. (2024). Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method. International Journal of Psychological Science, 4(2), 21-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11

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Mouafo, A. V. D. Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method. Int. J. Psychol. Sci. 2024, 4(2), 21-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11

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Mouafo AVD. Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method. Int J Psychol Sci. 2024;4(2):21-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11,
  author = {Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo},
  title = {Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method
},
  journal = {International Journal of Psychological Science},
  volume = {4},
  number = {2},
  pages = {21-31},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijps.20240402.11},
  abstract = {Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, constitutes a major social scourge recorded in virtually every country in the world. Despite the fact that previous studies investigating this societal phenomenon have evaluated it from various perspectives, little is known about how it is experienced by victims. However, the lack of knowledge of this experience prevents us from understanding that despite the fact that they are involved in relationships marked by violence, many women do not leave them, thus putting their physical and psychological health at risk. To help fill this gap, this research constructs and validates a new scale specific to experienced domestic violence. After formulating and verifying its items, a validation study was conducted with a sample of 406 female participants, aged between 18 and 61 years (M=29.63; SD=8,688). Factor analyses report that this measure has a one-dimensional factor structure with 12 items. The reliability indices are satisfactory (α=.95). The same goes for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. The scale of experienced domestic violence has a general scope which will allow researchers to carry out an in depth investigation into the psychological, social, economic and political causes and consequences of experienced domestic violence with a view, in particular, to considering interventions for the recovery of the victims.
},
 year = {2024}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method

AU  - Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo
Y1  - 2024/04/28
PY  - 2024
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11
T2  - International Journal of Psychological Science
JF  - International Journal of Psychological Science
JO  - International Journal of Psychological Science
SP  - 21
EP  - 31
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2994-7162
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11
AB  - Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, constitutes a major social scourge recorded in virtually every country in the world. Despite the fact that previous studies investigating this societal phenomenon have evaluated it from various perspectives, little is known about how it is experienced by victims. However, the lack of knowledge of this experience prevents us from understanding that despite the fact that they are involved in relationships marked by violence, many women do not leave them, thus putting their physical and psychological health at risk. To help fill this gap, this research constructs and validates a new scale specific to experienced domestic violence. After formulating and verifying its items, a validation study was conducted with a sample of 406 female participants, aged between 18 and 61 years (M=29.63; SD=8,688). Factor analyses report that this measure has a one-dimensional factor structure with 12 items. The reliability indices are satisfactory (α=.95). The same goes for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. The scale of experienced domestic violence has a general scope which will allow researchers to carry out an in depth investigation into the psychological, social, economic and political causes and consequences of experienced domestic violence with a view, in particular, to considering interventions for the recovery of the victims.

VL  - 4
IS  - 2
ER  -

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Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo

Department of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Maroua, Maroua, Cameroon

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Figure 1. Confirmatory factor analysis model of the Experienced Domestic Violence Scale.

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Mouafo, A. V. D. (2024). Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method. International Journal of Psychological Science, 4(2), 21-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11

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Mouafo, A. V. D. Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method. Int. J. Psychol. Sci. 2024, 4(2), 21-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11

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Mouafo AVD. Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method. Int J Psychol Sci. 2024;4(2):21-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11

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@article{10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11,
  author = {Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo},
  title = {Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method
},
  journal = {International Journal of Psychological Science},
  volume = {4},
  number = {2},
  pages = {21-31},
  doi = {10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11},
  eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijps.20240402.11},
  abstract = {Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, constitutes a major social scourge recorded in virtually every country in the world. Despite the fact that previous studies investigating this societal phenomenon have evaluated it from various perspectives, little is known about how it is experienced by victims. However, the lack of knowledge of this experience prevents us from understanding that despite the fact that they are involved in relationships marked by violence, many women do not leave them, thus putting their physical and psychological health at risk. To help fill this gap, this research constructs and validates a new scale specific to experienced domestic violence. After formulating and verifying its items, a validation study was conducted with a sample of 406 female participants, aged between 18 and 61 years (M=29.63; SD=8,688). Factor analyses report that this measure has a one-dimensional factor structure with 12 items. The reliability indices are satisfactory (α=.95). The same goes for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. The scale of experienced domestic violence has a general scope which will allow researchers to carry out an in depth investigation into the psychological, social, economic and political causes and consequences of experienced domestic violence with a view, in particular, to considering interventions for the recovery of the victims.
},
 year = {2024}
}

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TY  - JOUR
T1  - Domestic Violence Experienced by Women: Construction and Validation of a Measurement Method

AU  - Achille Vicky Dzuetso Mouafo
Y1  - 2024/04/28
PY  - 2024
N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11
DO  - 10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11
T2  - International Journal of Psychological Science
JF  - International Journal of Psychological Science
JO  - International Journal of Psychological Science
SP  - 21
EP  - 31
PB  - Science Publishing Group
SN  - 2994-7162
UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijps.20240402.11
AB  - Domestic violence, also known as intimate partner violence, constitutes a major social scourge recorded in virtually every country in the world. Despite the fact that previous studies investigating this societal phenomenon have evaluated it from various perspectives, little is known about how it is experienced by victims. However, the lack of knowledge of this experience prevents us from understanding that despite the fact that they are involved in relationships marked by violence, many women do not leave them, thus putting their physical and psychological health at risk. To help fill this gap, this research constructs and validates a new scale specific to experienced domestic violence. After formulating and verifying its items, a validation study was conducted with a sample of 406 female participants, aged between 18 and 61 years (M=29.63; SD=8,688). Factor analyses report that this measure has a one-dimensional factor structure with 12 items. The reliability indices are satisfactory (α=.95). The same goes for convergent, discriminant and predictive validity. The scale of experienced domestic violence has a general scope which will allow researchers to carry out an in depth investigation into the psychological, social, economic and political causes and consequences of experienced domestic violence with a view, in particular, to considering interventions for the recovery of the victims.

VL  - 4
IS  - 2
ER  -

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