"Comparisons of Contemporary Methods in the Assessment of Intimate Partner Abuse"

For the last several decades, trauma researchers have mostly focused upon the assessment of intimate partner abuse in the form of physical violence. The Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) and its revision (CTS2) has been the most widely utilized instrument to assess intimate partner abuse (Straus et al., 1996). However, this instrument has been criticized on several methodological grounds, including an inability to provide data on the number of days during which violence occurred, the number of distinct episodic occurrences of violence within a given period, the number of days since violence last occurred, and a lack of information on the precipitants or motives for the aggression (e.g., whether the aggression was in self-defense). In addition, there is an increasing recognition that emotional abuse and efforts to psychologically dominate and control intimate partners are important domains to measure within intimate relationships. Further emotional abuse and physical abuse often co-occur within intimate partner relationships, making it important to consider both forms of partner abuse. This seminar will discuss the advantages and drawbacks of several contemporary methods in the assessment of intimate partner abuse, namely the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS) and its revision (CTS2; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugerman, 1996), the Timeline Followback Spousal Violence Interview (TLFB-SV; Fals-Stewart, Birchler, & Kelley, 2003), and the Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (Murphy & Hoover, 1999). Presenters will briefly discuss the development of each of these assessment methods and the reliability and validity of these instruments in measuring intimate partner abuse. Presentations will mostly focus upon contemporary methodological approaches associated with each of these instruments (e.g., use of highest reported scores within dyads on the CTS, procedures in deriving calendar-based partner violence data from the TLFB-SV, assessing different forms and patterns of emotional abuse). Advantages and drawbacks of these instruments will be discussed with the opportunity for significant audience input regarding methodologies. Also, practical considerations in the use of these assessment instruments will be covered, including administration length and instrument scoring approaches. Data used for illustration will be derived from several sources, including veteran samples, samples of male domestic abuse perpetrators, and samples of women in substance abuse treatment.