Validation of the Dating Violence Questionnaire, DVQ (Cuestionario de Violencia entre Novios CUVINO) among Spanish-speaking youth: Analysis of results in Spain, Mexico and Argentina

Abstract

Violence that appears in couple relationships has become a topic of great importance during the past few years, as preventive interventions have multiplied. The suitability of these initiatives is closely related to the assessment tools used to detect the population‘s needs; however, little emphasis has been placed on developing specific questionnaires for adolescents and youth, especially in Spanish. This study was based on a sample of 5,170 people from Spain, Mexico and Argentina who answered the Cuestionario de Violencia de Novios, CUVINO (Dating Violence Questionnaire, DVQ), a Spanish language tool which assesses victimization and was developed for youth. The factor analysis yielded eight types of abuse (Emotional Punishment, Coercion, Detachment, Physical, Gender-Based, Humiliation, Instrumental and Sexual), with an explained variance of 51.3% and alpha values ranging between 0.58 and 0.81 for reliability. There were differences in the frequency of victimization in Spain and Latin America, while the abuse pattern was similar in both samples. The importance of the DVQ for guiding prevention programs in the future is also discussed.