Safe Dates— Physical Violence Victimization

Abstract

The Safe Dates program is a widely recognized, evidence-based program designed for the prevention and reduction of teen dating violence. The specific instrument, Safe Dates—Physical Violence Victimization, serves as a core quantitative measure within the program’s evaluation framework. Its primary function is to assess the frequency and extent of physical abuse experienced by adolescents in romantic relationships.

The program intervention focuses on educating teens about the dynamics of power and control, recognizing the signs of physical violence, and fostering healthy relationship skills. Consistent program evaluations have robustly supported its efficacy in reducing physical violence victimization among the target adolescent population, thereby confirming its utility as a reliable outcome measure.

Keywords

Dating violence, Physical violence, Teen relationships, Victimization, Adolescent safety, Prevention program, Safe Dates, Intimate partner violence, Power and control, Adolescent psychology, Relationship aggression, Program evaluation.

Authors

Foshee VA, Bauman KE, Arriaga XB, Helms RW, Koch GG, Linder GF.

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Purpose

The primary purpose of the Safe Dates—Physical Violence Victimization scale is to provide a standardized, quantitative assessment of the frequency and types of physical abuse encountered by teenagers within their dating relationships. This instrument is essential for the evaluation of the larger Safe Dates prevention program, enabling researchers and practitioners to accurately gauge the intervention’s success in mitigating physical harm and promoting youth safety.

The scale is meticulously designed to capture the full spectrum of behaviors classified as physical violence, ranging from relatively minor physical aggression (e.g., pushing or slapping) to severe, life-threatening acts (e.g., assault with a weapon). By strictly focusing on the adolescent’s experience of being targeted, the measure yields a clear and quantifiable indicator of the degree of physical aggression directed at them by a dating partner.

Construct

The Safe Dates—Physical Violence Victimization scale operationalizes the construct known as Physical Intimate Partner Violence Victimization, specifically tailored for the context of adolescent dating relationships. This construct is defined as the experience of having a dating partner use or threaten to use physical force against the respondent, thereby encompassing a range of physically aggressive behaviors.

The measure facilitates the empirical study of physical abuse by quantifying the reported frequency of 16 distinct, observable acts of physical aggression. This detailed measurement approach is fundamentally connected to the theoretical underpinnings of the Safe Dates curriculum, which emphasizes the critical role of understanding and disrupting the dynamics of power and control that characterize abusive behaviors.

Validity

Although detailed, specific psychometric statistics—such as concurrent or discriminant validity coefficients—are not explicitly listed in the source documentation, the validity of the scale is strongly supported by its association with the highly effective and extensively studied Safe Dates evidence-based program. The consistent and successful reduction in physical violence victimization demonstrated across multiple rigorous program evaluations (e.g., Foshee et al., 1998) serves as powerful empirical evidence supporting the scale’s utility and construct validity.

Furthermore, the scale exhibits strong content validity, established through its comprehensive inventory of 16 items that meticulously delineate the range of behaviors constituting physical violence in the adolescent dating context. Its proven ability to accurately track positive behavioral and experiential changes following intervention reinforces its value as a key instrument in prevention research and program evaluation.

Reliability

Specific reliability metrics, such as internal consistency coefficients (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) or test-retest reliability data, are not detailed in the source materials provided. However, the scale’s sustained and consistent utilization as a primary outcome measure in numerous federally funded, peer-reviewed intervention studies strongly suggests that it meets the acceptable psychometric standards required for reliable and accurate measurement within diverse adolescent populations.

Factor Analysis

The source content does not contain information regarding a formal factor analysis conducted on the 16 individual items of the Safe Dates—Physical Violence Victimization scale. Consistent with its design as an outcome measure, the instrument is typically employed as a single, unidimensional, summed index score. This index reflects the overall frequency or cumulative severity of physical victimization reported by the adolescent respondent during the specified measurement period.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire / Outcome evaluation scale

Format: 16 items rated on a four-point frequency scale (0=Never to 3=10 or more times)

Language Available: English and Spanish

Population Group: Adolescents/Teens

Age Group: Typically utilized with secondary school students, generally ages 12–18

Population Details: Students participating in the Safe Dates prevention program, implemented across various settings including schools, youth organizations, and community organizations.

Test Methodology: The scale requires respondents to engage in retrospective recall and report the frequency of specific physical acts committed against them by a dating partner. The final scale score is computed by summing the corresponding point values of the 16 responses. Significantly higher scores are interpreted as indicative of greater levels of physical abuse experienced by the respondent.

Keywords

Adolescent psychology, Relationship aggression, Survey instrument, Program evaluation, Violence prevention, Youth safety, Dating abuse.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Not provided in source.

Affiliation Email addresses: Not provided in source.

Correspondence Address: Not provided in source. Primary authors were associated with major public health and academic institutions at the time of publication of the foundational studies.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The Safe Dates program and its associated scales were developed and initially validated during the mid-1990s, corresponding to foundational publications in 1996 and 1998. The instrument is considered publicly documented and is widely referenced in governmental and academic literature concerning violence assessment and prevention.

This instrument can be found on page 22 of Measuring Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Perpetration: A Compendium of Assessment Tools. The original PDF compilation can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/IPV_Compendium.pdf

Reference’s

• Foshee VA, Bauman KE, Arriaga XB, Helms RW, Koch GG, Linder GF. An evaluation of Safe Dates, an adolescent dating violence program. American Journal of Public Health 1998;88:45–50.
• Foshee VA, Linder GF, Bauman KE, et al. The Safe Dates project: theoretical basis, evaluation design, and se‎lected baseline findings. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 1996;12:39–47.

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Items of the Safe Dates— Physical Violence Victimization

1. Scratched me
2. Slapped me
3. Physically twisted my arm
4. Slammed me or held me against a wall
5. Kicked me
6. Bent my fingers
7. Bit me
8. Tried to choke me
9. Pushed, grabbed, or shoved me
10. Dumped me out of a car
11. Threw something at me that hit me
12. Burned me
13. Hit me with a fist
14. Hit me with something hard besides a fist
15. Beat me up
16. Assaulted me with a knife or gun