Exposure to Recurring Community Violence Scale: A validity and reliability study in Turkey

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Sociology
• Public Health

Background:

• Growing interest in understanding violence in homes, schools, and neighborhoods.
• Lack of a standardized instrument to measure community violence in Turkey.
• Need for a validated scale to assess exposure to recurring community violence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To adapt the Exposure to Recurring Community Violence Scale for the Turkish population.
• To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the scale.

Main Methods:

• Translation and adaptation of the Exposure to Recurring Community Violence Scale.
• Exploratory factor analysis to determine scale structure.
• Assessment of criterion-related validity using established psychological instruments.
• Reliability analysis using Cronbach's alpha coefficients.

Main Results:

• Exploratory factor analysis identified a two-factor structure (victimization and witnessing), explaining 52% of the variance.
• The Turkish scale demonstrated acceptable psychometric properties, including good reliability (Cronbach's α = 0.79 for victimization, 0.90 for witnessing).
• Scores on the scale correlated significantly with measures of psychological distress, traumatic life events, and relationship quality.

Conclusions:

• The Turkish version of the Exposure to Recurring Community Violence Scale is a reliable and valid instrument.
• The scale can be effectively utilized in the Turkish context for research on community violence.
• This validated tool will facilitate further investigation into the risk factors and consequences of community violence.