Development and Validation of an Adolescent Gender-Based Violence Scale (ESVIGA)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is the construction of a new scale to estimate adolescent gender-based violence. The scale is specifically designed for this population and incorporates new forms of violence, such as cyberviolence. The sample consisted of 701 students aged between 13 and 18 years. The internal consistency of the scale showed a high reliability value in the overall scale (α = .965), as well as in the subscales of violence committed (α = .935) and violence suffered (α = .929). The results would suggest that the new scale is not only concise and useful, but also adapted to the current reality of adolescents. With a reduction in the number of items compared to the scales currently available (it has 13 bidirectional statements) and a factorial structure with five types of violence (cyber-violence, verbal, physical, psychological, and sexual violence), the scale provides an up-to-date measure of the occurrence of this type of behavior in teen dating relationships.