Validation of a questionnaire to assess abuse in dating relationships in Spanish adolescents (CARPA): Reasons and reactions

In this study, a questionnaire was developed to assess offline and online abuse in dating relationships between adolescents (victimization and perpetration) and the reasons and reactions to abuse. This questionnaire tries to overcome some of the limitations of other questionnaires by including the assessment not only of violent acts but also the reasons of the aggressor and the reactions of the victims. The questionnaire includes novelties in the format to reduce overlap between victimization and perpetration due to response bias. The sample consisted of 886 adolescents (11-18 years, M = 14.49, SD = 1.45; 51.7% girls) from 16 schools in seven Spanish communities. The questionnaire consists of 24 items of victimization, 24 of perpetration and 24 for reasons and reactions to aggressions. The response format ranges from 0 (never) to 3 (almost always). The results confirmed a hierar-chical structure in which two second-order dimensions (victimization and perpetration) each explained five specific factors: offline verbal violence, offline control, physical and sexual assaults, direct online violence, and online control. The internal consistency of the scales was excellent (a ordinal: .75-.97). As for the contexts of abuse, the most frequent reasons were jealousy and anger. Also noteworthy are the cases in which the aggression represents a reaction to the aggression received. The use of alcohol and drugs is involved in a small number of cases. As for the reactions of the victim, there is a high tendency to forgive aggression by the victim. The girls showed higher rates of abusive acts both as victims and as perpetrators.