Beliefs Supporting Cyber Intimate Partner Violence Scale (BCIPV)

Abstract

The Beliefs Supporting Cyber Intimate Partner Violence Scale (BCIPV; Gonzales & Mehari, 2023) was developed to measure normative beliefs supporting cyber intimate partner violence (IPV). The initial item pool was developed from information gathered from focus groups, a thematic analysis of existing measures, and an expert review. The resulting measure was then administered to a sample of emerging adults. Factor analysis supported a final measure composed of 9 items with a single-factor structure. Results concerning reliability and validity were reported.

Keywords

Cyber Intimate Partner Violence Beliefs, Cyber Aggression, Cyber Intimate Partner Violence Behaviors

Authors

Gonzales, Jose M.; Mehari, Krista R.

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Purpose

This scale assesses attitudes about cyber intimate partner violence (IPV), specifically beliefs about the acceptability of cyber IPV.

Validity

Construct Validity: As hypothesized, beliefs supporting cyber IPV were moderately correlated with the attitudes about the control subscale (r[259] =.22, p < .001) and with the attitudes about the abuse behaviors subscale (r[259] =.50, p < .001). Interestingly, beliefs supporting cyber IPV was not correlated with attitudes about physical IPV (r[259] =.02, p = .978).

Concurrent Validity: There was a large correlation between BCIPV and both forms of cyber IPV perpetration: direct cyber violence (r[259] =.55, p < .001) and cyber control and monitoring (r[259] =.52, p < .001). There was a moderate correlation between beliefs supporting cyber IPV and in-person physical IPV perpetration (r[259] =.47, p < .001) and in-person psychological IPV (r[259] =.43, p < .001), a correlation that was larger than expected.

Discriminant Validity: There was a small negative correlation between beliefs supporting cyber IPV and social desirability (r[259] =−.19, p < .01) supporting discriminant validity.

Reliability

Internal consistency: Cronbach’s α = .97.

Factor Analysis

Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis: During EFA of the 29 items, both a 1-factor solution and a 2-factor solution fit the data well based on the criteria of a cut-off score of .4 and Kaiser’s criterion value above 1 and on the CFI, TLI, and RMSEA. Since both the 1-factor and 2-factor models fit adequately, item loadings were reviewed to determine factor content. The heavy majority of items (26 of the 29 items) were correlated at a minimum of .6 with at least one other item, suggesting homogeneous item content and supporting a 1-factor solution (e.g., Piedmont & Hyland, 1993). Therefore, these items were removed, leaving a 1-factor solution with 26 items. Reviewing the remaining 26 items, the 3 highest loading items from each question stem were chosen based on both highest factor loadings and a desire to adequately sample a range of normative beliefs. CFA supported the 1-factor structure (χ2 = 111.377 p < .001, df = 27, CFI = .992, TLI = .989, RMSEA = 158.

Instrument: Beliefs Supporting Cyber IPV Scale (BCIPV)

Test Type: Original
Format: Participants respond on a 5-point scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 2 = Mildly disagree, 3 = Neither agree nor disagree, 4 = Mildly agree, 5 = Strongly agree). The administration method is electronic.
Language Available: English
Population Group: Human (Male and Female)
Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older); Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs)
Population Details: Respondents are emerging adults from the United States.
Test Methodology: Test Validity, Construct Validity, Convergent Validity, Discriminant Validity, Test Reliability, Internal Consistency, Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis.

Keywords

Attitude Measures, Intimate Partner Violence, Cyberbullying, Antisocial Behavior Measures, Online Behavior

Authors

Jose M. Gonzales

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: Cherokee Health Systems

• Email Address: No data is Available

• Correspondence Address: No data is Available

Krista R. Mehari

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

• Affiliation: Vanderbilt University

• Email Address: [email protected]

• Correspondence Address: Vanderbilt University, Department of Psychology and Human Development, 230 Appleton Place #552, Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37203, [email protected]

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

Permissions: Contact Corresponding Author
Fee: No
Test Year: 2023

References

Gonzales, J. M., & Mehari, K. R. (2023). Beliefs supporting cyber intimate partner violence: Scale development and preliminary psychometrics. Partner Abuse, 14(4), 422–445. doi:10.1891/PA-2022-0022

Items of the Beliefs Supporting Cyber IPV Scale (BCIPV)

This is a 9-item measure. The specific items are located in Table 3, Pages 432-433 of the source reference: Gonzales, J. M., & Mehari, K. R. (2023). Beliefs supporting cyber intimate partner violence: Scale development and preliminary psychometrics. Partner Abuse, 14(4), 422–445.