Examining the Psychometric Properties of the Revised Scale of Economic Abuse among Iranian Women

Abstract

Economic abuse, in the context of intimate relationships, is a pervasive form of violence that merits further empirical attention. We know from limited research that the rates of economic abuse appear to be high in Iran; however, there is a lack of culturally appropriate measures that can assess the extent to which women experience economic harm as a result of their partners’ actions. The present study was conducted with the aims of (a) investigating the psychometric properties of the 14-item Revised Scale of Economic Abuse (SEA2) which was translated into Persian for this study and (b) examining the prevalence of economic abuse among a sample of 371 married housewives in Qazvin, Iran. Confirmatory factor analysis supports the two-factor structure of the SEA2, with the exception of one item. Composite reliability and Cronbach’s alpha demonstrated good internal consistency. The average variance extracted method, along with correlations with other financial variables, demonstrated evidence of good convergent validity. Correlations with related, but distinct forms of abuse, support the scale’s discriminant validity. Based on the collective findings, this measure can be used as a reliable and valid tool to study economic abuse among Iranian women which, within our sample, appears to be a common phenomenon. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Using Social Media to Recruit Seldom-Heard Groups: Reaching Women and Girls with Experience of Violence in Iran

“…However, research has recently begun to recognise economic abuse as a distinct form of VAWGs and document the magnitude of the issue and adverse consequences of exposure to this form of VAWGs (Mellar et al 2023;Royal 2022). In line with international research indicating that economic abuse often co-occurs with other forms of VAWGs (Royal 2022;Salimi et al 2023), our findings indicate that the overwhelming majority of women who experienced forced unemployment (~92%) also faced at least one type of DV (physical, sexual, or psychological DV). These findings collectively underscore the intersectionality and complexity stemming from multiple sources of economic coercion, including abuse from family members, intimate partners, and workplace settings.…”