Assessment of Distorted Thoughts About Women and Violence of Basque-speaking Secondary School Students

The aim of the study is to assess distorted cognitions against women and violence in a sample of 2,919 secondary school students who speak Basque (mean age = 14.72, SD = 1.51). With this aim, the Inventory of Distorted Thoughts towards Women and Violence (IDTWV) by Echeburua and Fernandez-Montalvo (1998) was validated. It was translated into Basque by using the method of reverse translation. The confirmatory factor analysis data show that the model with the best fit is composed by two factors and 21 items: beliefs towards women (F1) and beliefs about the use of violence and abuse against women (F2). The IDTWV correlates with the ambivalent sexism scale (Glick & Fiske, 1996) and the sexual double standard scale (Caron, Davis, Halteman, & Stickle, 1993). Results indicate that, on the whole, girls are less sexist than boys. Also, adolescents tend to express increasingly less agreement with sexist beliefs the older they are, and finally, the social desirability bias was found to influence girls' responses, especially among the younger age groups. In sum, it can be concluded that the IDTWV adapted to the Basque language is a valid and reliable tool. (C) 2017 Universidad del Pais Vasco. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U. All rights reserved.