Development and Validation of Tam’s Intimate Partner Violence Scale for Measuring Abuse among Filipino Adults

Abstract

The main aim of this two-phase study is to construct an intimate partner violence (IPV) scale that truly reflects the common situation Filipino couples are in. Therefore, all respondents were either in a relationship at the time of data gathering or had previously been in one. The majority of respondents in Phase 1 (79%) and Phase 2 (75%) were within the 18–21 age range. Definitions of IPV from the literature review, along with the Duluth model, provided bases for the initial 52 items. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the internal consistency of test items, and three experts validated them. During Phase 1, 100 respondents answered the 52-item scale. All items with an item-total correlation coefficient of 0.64 were retained (n = 20). In Phase 2, 102 respondents took the reduced scale of 20 items. The results showed that 5 out of 20 items had an item-total correlation coefficient below 0.50 and 4 items ranged between 0.51 and 0.55; however, the overall consistency was 0.85. Items with an item-total correlation coefficient lower than 0.51 were discarded, and the overall consistency improved to 0.87. Although the 4 items in the 0.51–0.55 range also had low item-total correlation coefficients, discarding them lowered the overall consistency of the scale. Thus, the three experts recommended that they be retained, inasmuch as the study was still in its exploratory stage. In the final scale of 15 items, seven belonged to the psychological violence category, four to controlling behavior, three to physical aggression, and one to sexual coercion. The inclusion of more items from the psychological violence category is consistent with related literature stating that psychological violence is the most common form of intimate partner violence. It is recommended that similar research in the future be conducted with gender- and age-diverse populations to better capture the dynamics of IPV in the Philippine context.