The Development of a Non-Physical Dating Violence Risk Assessment Instrument for Urban Black Young Adult Men

Abstract

Young urban African American men may be disproportionately affected by dating violence victimization. To date, there are no known reliable and valid measurement instruments that have been developed to assess the risk of dating violence victimization among this population. Furthermore, there is very little research that has been conducted assessing factors related to dating violence victimization specifically among young urban men. The current study developed a valid and reliable non-physical dating violence victimization risk assessment instrument for urban African American males ages 18-25 years old. Focus groups, survey pre-testing, and expert panel review was used to develop an initial set of items included in the new instrument. The survey administration phase of the study used a non-experimental cross-sectional design to collect primary data from participants for psychometric analysis. A new instrument with a total of 9 new scales (83 items) was developed as a result of this study. Results from the study support evidence of psychometrically sound and reliable measures that can be used in the target population.