Do partners agree about abuse in their relationship?: A psychometric evaluation of interpartner agreement.

Abstract

This study tested whether partners can be relied on to provide congruent reports about abuse in their relationship. The authors examined whether interpartner agreement (IA) varies as a function of whether the perpetrator is the man or the woman, and by whether the abusive behavior being reported is physical or psychological. Guided by psychometric test theory, the authors examined whether weak IA about specific behaviors can be improved by aggregating behavior items into scales and by controlling for random measurement error. A representative sample of 360 young couples was studied. IA did not vary with the perpetrator's gender or with the nature of the abusive behaviors, but victims (both men and women) reported somewhat more abuse than did their perpetrators. IA about specific abusive behaviors was only poor to fair, but it became very good when items were aggregated into scales and even better when measurement errors were removed from the reports. The findings suggest that reports of abuse can be aggregated to form internally consistent scales that show strong IA, thereby fulfilling criteria for reliability. Moreover, under research conditions that guarantee confidentiality, either abuser reports or victim reports are suitable methods for use in research on partner abuse.

Cites (8)

1. Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity.
   Achenbach, Thomas M., McConaughy, Stephanie H., Howell, Catherine T. · 1987 · Psychological Bulletin
2. Societal change and change in family violence from 1975 to 1985 as revealed by two national surveys
   Straus, Murray A., Gelles, Richard J. · 1986 · Journal of Marriage and the Family
3. The stability of behavior: I. On predicting most of the people much of the time.
   Epstein, Seymour · 1979 · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
4. On the accuracy of personality judgment: A realistic approach
   Funder, David C. · 1995 · Psychological Review
5. Behavioral Development and Construct Validity: The Principle of Aggregation
   Rushton, J. Philippe, Brainerd, Charles J., Pressley, Michael · 1983 · Psychological Bulletin
6. The Development of a Measure of Psychological Maltreatment of Women by Their Male Partners
   Tolman, Richard M. · 1989 · Violence and Victims
7. On the "remembrance of things past": A longitudinal evaluation of the retrospective method.
   Henry, Bill, Moffitt, Terrie E., Caspi, Avshalom, Langley, John, Silva, Phil A. · 1994 · Psychological Assessment
8. Physical aggression in early marriage: Prerelationship and relationship effects.
   O'Leary, K. Daniel, Malone, Jean, Tyree, Andrea · 1994 · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology

Show all 8 references

Cited by (39)

1. Sex differences in aggression between heterosexual partners: a meta-analytic review
   Archer, John · 2000 · Psychological Bulletin
2. Does batterers' treatment work? A meta-analytic review of domestic violence treatment
   Babcock, Julia C, Green, Charles E, Robie, Chet · 2004 · Clinical Psychology Review
3. MAOA, maltreatment, and gene–environment interaction predicting children’s mental health: new evidence and a meta-analysis
   Kim-Cohen, J, Caspi, A, Taylor, A, Williams, B, Newcombe, R, Craig, I W, Moffitt, T E · 2006 · Molecular Psychiatry
4. Intergenerational transmission of partner violence: A 20-year prospective study.
   Ehrensaft, Miriam K., Cohen, Patricia, Brown, Jocelyn, Smailes, Elizabeth, Chen, Henian, Johnson, Jeffrey G. · 2003 · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
5. Individual and Contextual Determinants of Domestic Violence in North India
   Koenig, Michael A., Stephenson, Rob, Ahmed, Saifuddin, Jejeebhoy, Shireen J., Campbell, Jacquelyn · 2006 · American Journal of Public Health

See all 316