Dating Violence Myths Scale (DaVi-M)

Abstract

The Dating Violence Myths Scale (DaVi-M), developed by Toplu-Demirtaş et al. (2023), is a concise 9-item inventory designed to quantify widely held misperceptions, overgeneralizations, and harmful beliefs related to Dating Violence (DV). Its development involved three rigorous studies utilizing both cross-sectional and longitudinal data.

The scale was validated using separate samples of emerging adults, predominantly college students in Turkey, including both individuals currently in dating relationships and those who were not. The DaVi-M demonstrated strong psychometric properties, supporting a clear three-factor structure confirmed by factor analysis, alongside acceptable evidence for reliability and robust validity measures.

Keywords

Dating Violence Myths, Dating Violence, Myths on Victims/Survivors, Sexual Violence, Young Adults, Adult Attitudes, Emerging Adulthood, Dating Relationships

Authors

Toplu-Demirtaş, Ezgi, Soysal, Demet Esra, Aracı-İyiaydın, Ayşegül, Mesut, Cansel

Purpose

The primary objective of the DaVi-M questionnaire is to facilitate and advance systematic research concerning the cultural and societal myths surrounding Dating Violence. These myths often minimize the severity of abuse or shift blame onto victims, thereby impeding effective prevention and intervention strategies.

By providing a reliable measure of these entrenched beliefs, the scale helps researchers understand how such myths contribute to the acceptance or perpetration of psychological aggression and other forms of violence within dating relationships among young adults.

Construct

The DaVi-M measures the latent construct of acceptance of erroneous or harmful beliefs, often termed “myths,” regarding Dating Violence. This construct captures generalized misperceptions that normalize controlling behaviors or possessiveness, often presenting them as signs of love, or that minimize the severity of non-consensual acts.

The overall construct is operationalized through three specific subscales, reflecting common misconceptions about relationship dynamics, victim blaming, and sexual consent, allowing for a nuanced assessment of an individual’s endorsement of these harmful narratives.

Validity

The validity of the DaVi-M was established across multiple dimensions, including construct, concurrent, and predictive validity.

Construct Validity: Acceptable evidence for construct validity was provided by the Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). The CFA successfully confirmed the hypothesized three-factor measurement structure, indicating that the items accurately reflect the underlying theoretical components of dating violence myths.

Concurrent Validity: Significant correlations demonstrated the scale’s concurrent validity. Higher endorsement of DV myths was significantly correlated with psychological DV perpetration (r(160) = .301, p < .05). Furthermore, DV myths were found to be related to irrational romantic beliefs (r(160) = .250, p < .05). Crucially, dating emerging adults who held more DV myths were more likely to accept psychological aggression within their current relationships (r(160) = .399, p < .05).

Predictive Validity: The scale demonstrated strong predictive validity. This was confirmed through longitudinal data analysis involving both dating and non-dating college students, suggesting that the DaVi-M can predict future attitudes or behaviors related to dating violence acceptance.

Reliability

Internal Consistency: Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for both the overall scale and its individual factors. The alpha for the full 9-item scale was reported as .680.

The coefficients for the three factors were marginally below the conventionally accepted threshold of .70 (Nunnally, 1978): Factor 1 (.647), Factor 2 (.610), and Factor 3 (.604). The authors noted that this lower reliability is likely a consequence of the limited number of items comprising each factor, as further attempts to improve reliability through item deletion were unsuccessful. Despite these factor-level coefficients, the overall scale reliability (.680) is considered acceptable for short, exploratory measures.

Factor Analysis

The scale’s underlying structure was investigated using both Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA).

Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA): The EFA results strongly supported a three-factor solution, which was visually confirmed by the scree plot showing a clear break after the third factor. These three factors had eigenvalues greater than 1 and collectively accounted for 57.53% of the total variance. All individual items demonstrated strong factor loadings exceeding .30 onto their respective factors.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA): The Confirmatory Factor Analysis demonstrated an excellent fit for the proposed three-factor structure. Key fit indices met or exceeded conventional standards: the χ2/df ratio was 1.270 (below the recommended 3.0 cutoff); the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) was .029; the Comparative Fit Index (CFI) was .989; and the standardized Root Mean Square Residual (RMR) was .037. Overall, these favorable metrics confirm the perfect model fit of the DaVi-M structure.

Instrument

Test Type: Original Inventory/Questionnaire

Format: Electronic administration method.

Language Available: English and Turkish.

Population Group: Human (Male, Female, Nonbinary).

Age Group: Adulthood (18 yrs & older), Young Adulthood (18-29 yrs), Thirties (30-39 yrs).

Population Details: Respondents consisted primarily of college student samples of emerging adults in Turkey. The total age range was 18-30 years. Gender identities reported included Female, Male, and Nonbinary.

Test Methodology: The methodology involved comprehensive psychometric validation, including Test Validity (Concurrent Validity, Construct Validity, Predictive Validity), Test Reliability (Internal Consistency), and Factor Analysis (Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Exploratory Factor Analysis).

Keywords

Dating Relationships, Dating Violence Myths, Myths on Victims/Survivors, Sexual Violence, Young Adults

Authors

Toplu-Demirtaş, Ezgi

• Affiliation: MEF University

• Email addresses: [email protected]

• Correspondence Address: MEF University, Ayazaga Cad. No: 4, Maslak, Sarıyer, İstanbul, Turkey, 34396, [email protected]

• Author ORCID Identifier: No data is Available

Soysal, Demet Esra (Affiliation: MEF University)

Aracı-İyiaydın, Ayşegül (Affiliation: TED University)

Mesut, Cansel (Affiliation: MEF University)

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

• Permissions: The scale may be used for Research and Teaching purposes.

• Fee: No fee is required for use.

• Test Year: 2023.

Reference’s

Toplu-Demirtaş, E., Soysal, D. E., Aracı-İyiaydın, A., & Mesut, C. (2023). Making the myths of dating violence visible: Developing a new scale and testing its psychometrics through cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(13-14), 8136–8161. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231153890

Items of the Dating Violence Myths Scale (DaVi-M)

The DaVi-M is a 9-item scale, structured across three distinct factors (subscales).

Factors and Subscales:

• Myths on victims/survivors

• Dating relationships

• Sexual violence

Myths on victims/survivors

• Jealousy and possessiveness in a dating relationship are a sign of love. (Item 1)

• In a good dating relationship, partners spend all their time together. (Item 3)

• If the person says yes to a behavior, it is unacceptable to change their minds later. (Item 16)

Dating relationships

• Even if there is violence, those in a relationship are private, others should not interfere. (Item 13)

• The person subjected to violence must have acted in a way that caused it. (Item 10)

• If a woman refuses an offer, she is coy. (Item 14)

Sexual violence

• Constantly checking on the partner is a sign of caring and affection. (Item 2)

• Saying yes to sexual behavior in a dating relationship means giving consent to the same behavior every time. (Item 15)

• People are often exposed to sexual violence by people they do not know. (Item 19)

The specific items of the scale are available in the source reference: Toplu-Demirtaş, E., Soysal, D. E., Aracı-İyiaydın, A., & Mesut, C. (2023). Making the myths of dating violence visible: Developing a new scale and testing its psychometrics through cross-sectional and longitudinal evidence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 38(13-14), 8136–8161. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605231153890 (Table 1, Page 8143).