Cumulative lifetime violence severity scale: development and initial testing among men

Abstract

Background: Knowledge of the relationship between men's health and violence is flawed by narrow and faulty conceptualization and measurement of violence that often results in attribution of health problems to one form or type of violence without consideration of other exposures. Our purpose is to describe the development and initial testing of the Cumulative Lifetime Violence Severity scale designed for use in health research to measure men's perceptions of the severity of their cumulative lifetime violence. Methods: We framed the dimensions of violence severity as: type (physical, psychological, sexual), timing (childhood, adulthood), focus (perpetrator, target), context, frequency, and degree of distress. Items reflecting these dimensions were vetted by local experts including individuals who identified as men, with particular attention to meaningful language for men. The measure was pretested, revised to 64 items, and tested for test-retest reliability prior to use in a study of 685 English-speaking Eastern Canadian men, ages 19 to 65 years. We used Principal Components Analysis to illuminate the underlying dimensionality of the items. Results: Principal Components Analysis yielded a 44-item 11 component solution that accounted for 64.06% of variance with good model fit and a Cronbach's alpha of .92. All dimensions of our conceptualization of violence severity were reflected in the components, except Adult Target Sexual Violence. Convergent validity between the Cumulative Lifetime Violence Severity-44 Scale and a global lifetime violence rating scale was r = .750 (p < .001) and concurrent validity was moderate and significant between the Cumulative Lifetime Violence Severity-44 scale and measures of mental health problems commonly experienced by people with violence histories. Conclusions: The Cumulative Lifetime Violence Severity-44 scale shows promise as the first comprehensive measure of cumulative lifetime violence for health research that considers gender, individual distress and experiences as both perpetrator and target. Next steps include further exploratory analysis with a more diverse sample of men and confirmatory factor analysis.

Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence: Perceived Links with Other Victimizations and the Severity of Violence by Young Adults in Qu&#233;bec

“…Some types of violence and their related characteristics (i.e., frequency, intensity, length of time, fear and powerlessness, presence and severity of related consequences, youth's involvement in IPV, and perceived abnormality of the violence) were described as having had a more severe impact, whereas others had little or no place in their discourse. Studies that have looked at the perception of the severity of violence also show different characteristics associated with the violence, the context of the violence, and the emotions that play a role in how they perceived it (Neill et al, 2014;Scott-Storey et al, 2020). Informed by the youths' explanation of the strong links they perceived between IPV exposure and certain victimizations, the present discussion puts forward recommendations for future research and interventions.…”

“…), the timing of the victimization (childhood or adulthood), the context of the victimization (family, workplace, etc. ), the frequency of the victimization, the fear felt, and so on (Neill et al, 2014;Scott-Storey et al, 2020). It is important to develop this type of knowledge since it can guide professionals with regard to the help they offer to young people exposed to IPV and other victimizations.…”

The Mental Health Effects of Cumulative Lifetime Violence in Men: Disruptions in the Capacity to Connect with Others and Finding Ways to Reengage

“…Lifetime cumulative violence was measured with the cumulative lifetime violence scale (CLVS-44) that includes 44 items that capture type (physical, psychological, sexual), timing (child or adulthood), focus (target or perpetrator), and context (e.g., family, community, workplace, intimate relationships, schools) of violence/abuse ( Scott-Storey et al, 2020 ). Each Likert-type scale item includes questions about frequency from 1 (never) to 4 (often) and degree of distress from 1 (not at all) to 4 (very) ( Scott-Storey et al, 2020 ). A severity score from 1 to 4 is obtained by summing and averaging frequency and distress scores, with higher scores indicating greater severity.…”

“…In the MVGHS study, CLV was measured comprehensively using 64 items about men’s physical, psychological and sexual violence experiences from childhood through adulthood, as target and/or perpetrator, in the context of gender, families, intimate relationships, schools, communities, and workplaces ( Scott-Storey et al, 2020 ). Of this community sample of 685 men, 670 (97.8%) reported experiences of CLV as target and/or perpetrator.…”

Cumulative lifetime violence severity, social determinants and anxiety in a national sample of Canadian men

“…To overcome this shortcoming, we recognized the need to study cumulative lifetime violence which we defined as perceived physical, psychological and sexual violence or abuse experiences in childhood (under 18 years) and adulthood, as target and/or perpetrator, in diverse contexts including families, partner relationships, schools, communities, and workplaces [ 20 ]. We developed a measure of cumulative lifetime violence severity (CLVS) and found CLVS to be significantly associated with anxiety severity ( r = 0.477, p < 0.001) in a convenience sample of 685 men [ 20 ]. To our knowledge, our findings provided the first evidence that CLVS is a factor that may identify men more vulnerable to GAD.…”