Factor structure and convergent validity of the Conflict Tactics Scale in high school students.

Abstract

This study explored the factor structure of a modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS; M. A. Straus, 1979) in a large multiethnic high school sample. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analytic approaches were used. Results generally supported 2-factor models for males and females. A substantial proportion of residual variance remained after the 2 primary factors were extracted, and correlations among this residual variance suggested meaningful differences in the perpetration and experience of dating violence for males and females. Furthermore, the factor structure for males' self-reported victimization suggested that items representing psychological and mild physical aggression, which loaded on 1 factor, may be perceived similarly. Convergent validity analyses that examined the correlation among CTS traditional and factor scores with jealous actions, control tactics, and attitudes justifying males' and females' use of dating aggression provided initial support for the constructs identified. Results are discussed in terms of improving measurement of dating aggression. Adolescent dating violence has received increased research attention over the past decade. Physical aggression occurs with notable frequency in high school dating relationships. Estimates range from 9% to 41%; rates of self-reported victimization are similar, ranging from 12% to 41% (Avery-Leaf, Cascardi, O'Leary, & Cano, 1997; Bergman, 1992; Henton, Gate, Koval, Lloyd, & Christopher, 1983; O'Keefe, 1997; Roscoe & Callahan, 1983). Unfortunately, psychometric properties of the most frequently used measure of this phenomenon, the Conflict Tactics Scale (CTS; Straus, 1979), have not been investigated in high school samples. The purpose of this study was to conduct a preliminary examination of the factor structure and convergent validity of a modified version of the CTS in a multiethnic high school student sample. The CTS includes measures of both one's own use of physical aggression and one's experience of one's partner's physical aggression (i.e., victimization), so this article is divided into two separate analyses: one reporting on self-reported aggression, the other on self-reported victimization. The CTS's status as the most commonly used measure of partner aggression supports exploration of its factor structure in an adolescent sample before steps are taken to alter it in ways that might enhance its validity but also render comparisons to the large CTS-based literature impossible. Furthermore, our work and that

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