Severity of Violence Against Women Scale/Severity of Violence Against Men Scale (SVAWS/ SVAMS)

The Severity of Violence Against Women Scale (SVAWS) and Severity of Violence Against Men Scale (SVAMS) are two scales developed to measure the severity of violence experienced by individuals in intimate partner relationships. The scales assess the frequency and intensity of physical, sexual, and psychological abuse, as well as the impact of each type of abuse on the victim. The scales are designed to be used in both research and clinical settings and provide information about the severity of violence experienced by individuals in intimate partner relationships. The scales can be used to assess the severity of violence experienced by both men and women and can be used to identify individuals who are at risk for further violence.
How often has your partner:
______ 1. Hit or kicked a wall‚ door‚ or furniture
______ 2. Threw‚ smashed‚ or broke an object
______ 3. Drove dangerously with you in the car
______ 4. Threw an object at you
______ 5. Shook a finger at you
______ 6. Made threatening gestures or faces at you
______ 7. Shook a fist at you
______ 8. Acted like a bully toward you
______ 9. Destroyed something belonging to you
______ 10. Threatened to harm or damage things you care about
______ 11. Threatened to destroy property
______ 12. Threatened someone you care about
______ 13. Threatened to hurt you
______ 14. Threatened to kill himself
______ 15. Threatened to kill you
______ 16. Threatened you with a weapon
______ 17. Threatened you with a club-like object
______ 18. Acted like he wanted to kill you
______ 19. Threatened you with a knife or gun
______ 20. Held you down‚ pinning you in place
______ 21. Pushed or shoved you
______ 22. Grabbed you suddenly or forcefully
______ 23. Shook or roughly handled you
______ 24. Scratched you
______ 25. Pulled your hair
______ 26. Twisted your arm
______ 27. Spanked you
______ 28. Bit you
______ 29. Slapped you with the palm of his hand
______ 30. Slapped you with the back of his hand
______ 31. Slapped you around your face and head
______ 32. Hit you with an object
______ 33. Punched you
______ 34. Kicked you
______ 35. Stomped on you
______ 36. Choked you
______ 37. Burned you with something
______ 38. Used a club-like object on you
______ 39. Beat you up
______ 40. Used a knife or gun on you
______ 41. Demanded sex whether you wanted it or not
______ 42. Made you have oral sex against your will
______ 43. Made you have sexual intercourse against your will
______ 44. Physically forced you to have sex
______ 45. Made you have anal sex against your will
______ 46. Used an object on you in a sexual way
 
 
  • Actualviolence
  • threats  violence
 
This instrument can be found on pages 23-24& 39-40 of Measuring Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Perpetration: A Compendium of Assessment Tools‚ available online at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/IPV_Compendium.pdf
 
Point values are assigned as follows:
1= never
2= once
3= a few times
4= many times
Items are worded for a female respondent. For a male respondent‚ simply change the pronouns.
For less educated participants‚ adding the words mouth and bottom for oral and anal sex is recommended.
Items 20-40 comprise the acts of physical violence subscale (except for male respondents‚ where item 22 is indicative of threats of violence).
For female respondents‚ items 20-23 represent mild violence‚ items 24-28 represent minor violence‚ items 29-31 represent moderate violence‚ and items 32-40 represent serious violence.
For male respondents‚ items 20‚ 21‚ 23‚ and 27 represent mild violence‚ items 24‚ 25‚ 26‚ 28‚ and 34 represent minor violence‚ items 29‚ 30‚ 31‚ and 33 represent moderate violence‚ and items 32 and 35-40 represent serious violence.
Items 41-46 comprise the sexual aggression subscale for both male and female respondents.
Point values given in response to each item in the subscale are summed to cr‎eate the subscale score. Higher scores are indicative of greater abuse.
 

Marshall LL. Development of the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale. Journal of Family Violence 1992a;7:103–121.

Marshall LL. The Severity of Violence Against Men Scale. Journal of Family Violence 1992b;7:189–203..

 
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