Measuring attitudes about women's recourse after exposure to intimate partner violence: the ATT-RECOURSE scale

Attitudes about intimate partner violence (IPV) against women are widely surveyed, but attitudes about women's recourse after exposure to IPV are understudied, despite their importance for intervention. Designed through qualitative research and administered in a probability sample of 1,054 married men and women 18 to 50 years in My Hao District, Vietnam, the ATT-RECOURSE scale measures men's and women's attitudes about a wife's recourse after exposure to physical IPV. Data were initially collected for nine items. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with one random split-half sample (N 1 = 526) revealed a one-factor model with significant loadings (0.316-0.686) for six items capturing a wife's silence, informal recourse, and formal recourse. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with the other random split-half sample (N 2 = 528) showed adequate fit for the six-item model and significant factor loadings of similar magnitude to the EFA results (0.412-0.669). For the six items retained, men consistently favored recourse more often than did women (52.4%-66.0% of men vs. 41.9%-55.2% of women). Tests for uniform differential item functioning (DIF) by gender revealed one item with significant uniform DIF, and adjusting for this revealed an even larger gap in men's and women's attitudes, with men favoring recourse, on average, more than women. The six-item ATT-RECOURSE scale is reliable across independent samples and exhibits little uniform DIF by gender, supporting its use in surveys of men and women. Further methodological research is discussed. Research is needed in Vietnam about why women report less favorable attitudes than men regarding women's recourse after physical IPV.