Measuring Emotional Abuse in Dating Relationships as a Multifactorial Construct

The original MMEA has internal consistency coefficients ranging from .83 to .92 and a four-factor structure accounting for approximately 55% of the total variance.

“Additionally, the strong psychometric properties of the original scale have been well documented, with internal consistency coefficients ranging from .83 to .92 and a four-factor structure accounting for approximately 55% of the total variance (Murphy & Hoover, 1999).”

Widely used multidimensional psychological IPV instruments such as the MMEA and the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory demonstrate strong psychometric performance, including stable factor structures and high internal consistency coefficients.

“For example, widely used multidimensional psychological IPV instruments such as the Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEA) (28 items; Murphy & Hoover, 1999) and the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory 58 items; Tolman, 1989) demonstrate strong psychometric performance, including stable factor structures and high internal consistency coefficients (often in the .80–.90 range).”

Among predominantly heterosexual women, higher attachment anxiety reliably corresponds to greater engagement in psychological IPV perpetration.

“This association is particularly evident among predominantly heterosexual women, for whom higher attachment anxiety reliably corresponds to greater engagement in psychological IPV perpetration (e.g., Murphy & Hoover, 1999; Toplu-Demirtaş et al., 2018).”

The original MMEA validation provided evidence for convergent and discriminant validity, as all subdimensions correlated significantly with physical aggression (rs = .29-.74).

“The original validation also provided evidence for convergent and discriminant validity, as all subdimensions correlated significantly with physical aggression (rs = .29–.74).”

Prior research has identified several core domains of psychological IPV: Restrictive Engulfment, Denigration, Hostile Withdrawal, and Dominance/Intimidation.

“Consistent with this multidimensionality, prior research has identified several core domains of psychological IPV, such as Restrictive Engulfment, Denigration, Hostile Withdrawal, and Dominance/Intimidation, that together capture the breadth of psychological abusive behaviors (e.g., Murphy & Hoover, 1999; Tolman, 1989).”

The short form of the MMEA-TR retains the original factorial structure and functions consistently across diverse gender and sexual orientation groups.

“These findings indicate that the short form of the MMEA-TR retains the original factorial structure (Maldonado et al., 2022; Murphy & Hoover, 1999) and functions consistently across diverse gender and sexual orientation groups.”