Psychometric properties of the Dating Violence Questionnaire, Short Version: a screening tool for educational settings

Abstract

This article provides psychometric information from a screening tool for victimization in young couples: the 8-Item Dating Violence Questionnaire. The first study undertook an exploratory factor analysis with polymorphic correlation matrices and oblimin rotation of 990 Mexican university students with an average age of 19.5, two thirds of whom were women, obtaining a unifactorial structure with high reliability for males and females. The second study, with a sample of 355 participants, provided information on the validity of the instrument, finding a positive relationship between the 8-Item Dating Violence Questionnaire and perceived victimization. High significance and a large effect size and negative relationship were obtained between the instrument and state of health, with a moderate effect. In conclusion, the DVQ-8 includes reliable, valid indicators for the early detection of victimization in educational settings.