Javier López-Cepero

Development of the Gender Role Attitudes Scale (GRAS) amongst young Spanish people

Gender roles depend on the attitudes and beliefs about them, which at the same time facilitate the formation of stereotypes that will foster violence in interpersonal relationships in couples. The assessment tools used tend to represent the sexist attitude towards women, without taking into account that men can also be recipients of the same behavior from their partner. The objective of the study is to provide an improved scale for the assessment of gender role attitudes, based on the theoretical perspective of gender equality. The sample comprises 2,136 young Spanish men and women, students in Vocational Training (Spanish acronym FP) and at university in the age range 15-26 years old. The results show the existence of a single bipolar factor - transcendent attitudes vs. sexist attitudes - fulfilling psychometric fit indices, and providing the basis for modifying attitudes depending on the difficulty of the items for such modification. The implications for intervention are oriented based on the perspective of prevention and changing sexist gender attitudes.

The Dating Violence Questionnaire: Validation of the Cuestionario de Violencia de Novios Using a College Sample From the United States.

This study provides psychometric information for the Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ), an instrument developed to assess intimate partner victimization among adolescents and youths. This instrument, an English version of Cuestionario de Violencia de Novios, assesses both frequency and discomfort associated with 8 types of abuse (detachment, humiliation, sexual, coercion, physical, gender-based, emotional punishment, and instrumental). Participant included 859 U.S. students enrolled in undergraduate psychology courses in a mid-Atlantic university (M = 19 years; SD = 1.5 years). One-third of the participants were males, and two-thirds were females. Regarding racial identity, around 55% of participants identified themselves as White, 22% as African American, 12% as Asian, whereas 11% selected other identities. Around 9% of participants identified themselves as Hispanic. Confirmatory factor analysis shows that the DVQ achieved adequate goodness-of-fit indexes for the original eight-factor model (χ2/df <5; root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] <.080), as well as higher parsimony when compared to simpler alternative models. The 8 scales demonstrated acceptable internal consistency indexes (α > .700), surpassing those found in the original Spanish validation. Descriptive analysis suggests higher victimization experience on subtle aggressions (detachment, coercion, and emotional punishment), with overt abuses (physical, instrumental) obtaining the smallest means; these findings were similar across gender, race identity, and ethnicity. Results of this validation study encourage the inclusion of DVQ in both research and applied contexts.

Evolution of victimization, tolerance and detection of intimate partner violence among young Spanish women / Evolución de victimización, tolerancia y detección de la violencia de pareja entre mujeres jóvenes españolas

Abstract Intimate partner violence that takes place in first couple relationships has received increasing attention in recent years, leading our knowledge on different topics to grow remarkably. The objective of this study is two-fold: on the one hand, we compare levels of victimization and tolerance for two samples, from two waves of assessment; and on the other hand, we focus on coherence among victimization and the use of labels such as abuse, fear and feeling trapped in the relationship in both waves. A total sample of 3,844 women between the ages of 16 and 21 took part in the study, 18% in the first wave in 2003–05 and 82% in the second wave in 2011–13. Data were collected using the Cuestionario de Violencia de Novios (CUVINO), a questionnaire that provides information on the prevalence of and tolerance towards eight different kinds of abuse, along with self-labelling questions on the perception of abuse. Results showed a similarity in prevalence and labelling in both waves of assessment, with higher tolerance in the second wave. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving current prevention programs on dating violence.

Psychometric Properties of the Dating Violence Questionnaire: Reviewing the Evidence in Chilean Youths:

The Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ) is a 42-item questionnaire that measures victimization in romantic relationships between young people, through eight interrelated scales assessing detachment, humiliation, coercion, emotional punishment, gender-based, sexual, physical, and instrumental violence. It has been validated in a myriad of countries and languages and is commonly used in Spanish-speaking countries; however, two scales (emotional punishment and instrumental violence) have shown reliability issues. The aim of present study is to analyze the psychometric proprieties of the adapted version of the DVQ for the Chilean population, reviewing evidence of structure validity, external validity, and reliability-using polychoric and ordinal analysis-and including new items to improve instrumental and emotional punishment scales (DVQ+). Eight hundred forty-six high school and university students (14-24 years old) participated in the study. Results showed that both DVQ and DVQ+ versions had an adequate fit with the original correlated eight-factor model (root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = .023; comparative fit index [CFI] = .97, in both cases), as well as with a more parsimonious second-order factor model (RMSEA = .024-.025; CFI = .97-.97, respectively). Reliability analysis also showed both version presented satisfactory values for internal consistency. Finally, scores of DVQ were correlated-as expected-negatively with quality of the relationship and positively with fear, perceived abuse, and attachment-related anxiety, thus providing new evidences of validity.

Expectations Towards Animal-Assisted Interventions and Improvement on Quality of Life: Triangulating Information from Different Actors and Levels of Analysis

Although Animal-Assisted Interventions (AAI) have gathered a solid empirical background as an effective complement to social, educational and health professions in order to enhance quality of life (QoL), Spanish-speaking countries are just starting to pay attention to possibilities they offer. Thereby, little is known about expectations held by students and professionals towards AAI. Present study was devoted to explore these expectations among two samples of N = 474 university students (M = 22.7; SD = 5.6 year) and N = 207 workers of elder nursing homes (M = 38.5; SD = 9.7 year) from Southern Spain. Participants completed the Improvement of Quality of Life inventory, an instrument that provides information on the changes that AAI may introduce on four fields of QoL (health and wellbeing, autonomy and adaptation, center climate, and social interaction), and a second inventory regarding formative background and intention of implementing AAI. Results shown high expectations among both samples, with means surpassing the scale midpoint (p 0.80) in all measures. In addition, 80 % of participants informed to have intention to develop AAI, although just 13 % had any formation in the field. Triangulation of information between different actors, as well as between two complementary levels of analysis, warranted solid conclusions that should serve as a guide to keep developing AAI in Spanish-speaking countries.

Digital Intimate Partner Violence Among Peruvian Youths: Validation of an Instrument and a Theoretical Proposal

The present study presents psychometric information on a new instrument, the Digital Intimate Partner Violence Questionnaire (DIPVQ), and explores the similitudes and differences between in-person and digital-based abuses (those that involve the use of information and communication technologies [ICTs]). In all, 449 Peruvian students took part in the study ( X = 21.2 years; SD = 4.3 years; 73% women). DIPVQ structure was determined by carrying out an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with polychoric correlation matrices and oblique rotation. In-person violence was assessed using the Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ) and self-labeling questions (e.g., feeling trapped, afraid, and abused). Relationship satisfaction was assessed using the Perceived Relationship Quality Components-Short Form (PRQC-SF). EFA showed a two-scale structure for the DIPVQ: control-centered cyberabuse ( N = 5; control, monitoring, and identity theft; EAP alpha = .96) and damage-centered cyberabuse ( N = 7; unwanted sexual contents, blackmailing, and causing debts throughout ICT; Expected-A-Posteriori alpha = .97). DIPVQ had direct relationship to DVQ and self-labeling ( p < .001; d = 0.38-1.18), and inverse to PRQC-SF ( p = .11; d = .22-.33). Behaviors such as impersonation and monitoring were reported by more than 20% of participants. Online and offline victimization coexist in 42% of cases, while 3.6% of aggressions happened exclusively via ICT. DIPVQ is a valid and reliable measure of digital victimization. The control-centered scale had a higher frequency, although the damage-centered scale had stronger relationship to feeling afraid and abused. While previous literature has classified online aggressions regarding their aesthetic appearance, it seems that their functional value (control vs. hurting) could provide a better framework for understanding these aggressions.

Análise diferencial da percepção de jovens sobre maltrato no namoro

• Resumen (analítico): En este estudio nuestra pretensión es la de conocer el grado de victimización sufrida en una muestra de individuos mexicanos de ambos sexos y escolarizados, y analizar en cada uno de los niveles educativos el poder predictivo de las distintas formas de victimización en la pareja, sobre el uso de las etiquetas de maltrato-sentirse maltratado y tener miedo-. Participaron 3495 estudiantes de México escolarizados a quienes les aplicamos el Cuestionario

Análisis diferencial de la percepción de jóvenes sobre maltrato en el noviazgo

• Resumen (analítico): En este estudio nuestra pretensión es la de conocer el grado de victimización sufrida en una muestra de individuos mexicanos de ambos sexos y escolarizados, y analizar en cada uno de los niveles educativos el poder predictivo de las distintas formas de victimización en la pareja, sobre el uso de las etiquetas de maltrato-sentirse maltratado y tener miedo-. Participaron 3495 estudiantes de México escolarizados a quienes les aplicamos el Cuestionario