Safe Dates— Psychological Abuse Perpetration

Abstract

The Safe Dates—Psychological Abuse Perpetration instrument is a crucial 14-item component of the larger, evidence-based Safe Dates intervention program. This program is specifically designed to assess and mitigate the risk of psychological abuse perpetration among adolescents in dating relationships. The theoretical underpinning of the Safe Dates curriculum posits that abusive behaviors are learned responses; consequently, they can be successfully prevented through targeted education focused on establishing healthy relationship dynamics. The scale quantitatively measures the frequency of controlling and psychologically abusive behaviors directed toward a dating partner. Research evaluating the Safe Dates program confirms that utilization of this measure aids in demonstrating significant reductions in self-reported perpetration rates and fosters healthier attitudes concerning respect and trust among participants.

Keywords

Safe Dates Program, Psychological Abuse Perpetration, Dating Violence, Adolescent Relationships, Emotional Aggression, Coercive Control, Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), Prevention Science.

Authors

Vangie A. Foshee, Karl E. Bauman, Ximena B. Arriaga, Robert W. Helms, Gary G. Koch, Ginny F. Linder, et al.

Purpose

The primary objective of the Safe Dates curriculum is to function as a comprehensive prevention program aimed at decreasing the incidence of dating violence, particularly focusing on emotional and psychological abuse perpetration among middle and high school students. The curriculum achieves this by imparting essential life skills related to communication, boundary setting, trust, and mutual respect.

The scale itself serves as the key behavioral outcome measure for the intervention. It is meticulously designed to quantitatively assess the self-reported frequency with which students engage in specific aggressive and controlling acts against a dating partner. This quantitative data is essential for two reasons: identifying high-risk individuals and providing robust evidence for evaluating the long-term efficacy and impact of the Safe Dates curriculum in reducing subsequent abusive behaviors consistent with Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).

Construct

The instrument is designed to measure the construct of Psychological Abuse Perpetration specifically within the context of adolescent dating relationships. This construct is defined as a spectrum of non-physical, coercive, and harmful actions executed with the intent to control, manipulate, degrade, or inflict emotional injury upon a dating partner. The 14 behaviors assessed are conceptualized as learned, maladaptive mechanisms that fundamentally undermine the partner’s autonomy and emotional well-being.

The items capture key dimensions of this construct, including explicit emotional aggression (e.g., verbal threats and purposeful insults), controlling behavior (e.g., monitoring movements or isolating the partner), and acts rooted in jealousy or blame. By quantifying these specific actions, the scale provides a measurable and actionable indicator of engagement in psychologically abusive dating practices.

Validity

The validity of the Psychological Abuse Perpetration measure is strongly substantiated by its integration within the rigorously evaluated Safe Dates program, which is recognized as an evidence-based intervention. Foundational studies (Foshee et al., 1996, 1998) demonstrated statistically significant reductions in the self-reported perpetration of dating violence following participation in the program, confirming the scale’s ability to capture genuine behavioral change.

Furthermore, the items possess strong face validity, as they directly correspond with established definitions of coercive control and non-physical aggression widely documented in dating violence literature. The demonstrated success of the overall program in fostering improved knowledge and healthier attitudes towards relationships provides indirect support that the scale accurately captures the targeted behavioral outcomes sought by the curriculum.

Reliability

While specific psychometric coefficients, such as the internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) for this standalone 14-item scale, are not explicitly provided in general compendium entries, the instrument is a core component of the Safe Dates evaluation battery. It has been subject to standard psychometric scrutiny within large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

These rigorous evaluations consistently report satisfactory reliability statistics, affirming that the scale provides consistent and stable measurement. This consistency is essential for its primary use in pre- and post-intervention assessment of behavioral change in high school and middle school adolescent populations.

Factor Analysis

The Safe Dates—Psychological Abuse Perpetration scale is conventionally utilized as a single, composite score reflecting the overall severity of psychological perpetration. Research associated with the broader Safe Dates project often utilizes comprehensive factor analyses across the entire dating violence measure set, which includes separate scales for physical and sexual abuse.

These analyses are crucial for confirming the theoretical distinction between various forms of aggression. The 14 items comprising this specific instrument are generally confirmed to represent a distinct factor related to emotional and controlling abuse, maintaining empirical separation from overt physical violence measures.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-report questionnaire / Behavioral Outcome Assessment

Format: 14 items administered using a 4-point Likert-type frequency scale.

Language Available: English

Population Group: Adolescents and students

Age Group: Middle school and high school students (typically 12–18 years old)

Population Details: Students participating in the Safe Dates curriculum, implemented in educational or community settings.

Test Methodology: The scale is administered via a self-report survey where respondents indicate the frequency with which they have performed each perpetration behavior toward a dating partner. Point values are assigned based on frequency, summed, and then recoded into severity levels, as detailed below.

Point values are assigned as follows:

• 3= Very Often
• 2= Sometimes
• 1= Seldom
• 0= Never

Summed scores are recoded into severity levels:

• 0 = 0 and indicates no perpetration.
• 1–5 = 1 and indicates mild psychological abuse.
• 6–9 = 2 and indicates moderate psychological abuse.
• 10 and greater = 3 and indicates severe psychological abuse.

Keywords

Coercive control, Emotional abuse, School intervention, Adolescent development, Relationship assessment, Safe Dates Program, Prevention Science, IPV.

Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Unavailable in the source documentation.

Affiliation Email addresses: Unavailable in the source documentation.

Correspondence Address: Unavailable in the source documentation.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The instrument was developed as part of the extensive Safe Dates project, with key foundational evaluations published in 1996 and 1998. The scale is primarily intended for non-commercial academic research and public health evaluation purposes. It is readily accessible through public health compendia dedicated to the measurement of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and dating abuse.

Comprehensive details regarding the full instrument and its scoring protocol can be located in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication, Measuring Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and Perpetration: A Compendium of Assessment Tools, where the scale is detailed on page 135. The original PDF can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/pub-res/IPV_Compendium.pdf

Reference’s

1. 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.
2. 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.

Items of the Safe Dates— Psychological Abuse Perpetration

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

1. Damaged something that belonged to them.
2. Said things to hurt their feelings on purpose.
3. Insulted them in front of others.
4. Threw something at them that missed.
5. Would not let them do things with other people.
6. Threatened to start dating someone else.
7. Told them they could not talk to someone of the opposite sex.
8. Started to hit them but stopped.
9. Did something just to make them jealous.
10. Blamed them for bad things I did.
11. Threatened to hurt them.
12. Made them describe where they were every minute of the day.
13. Brought up something from the past to hurt them.
14. Put down their looks.