"You're still online…who are you talking to, love?": the Affective-Sexual Violence Scale in young couples

Violence in affective-sexual relationships constitutes a growing psychosocial challenge during adolescence and youth, exacerbated by persistent gender inequalities and the digitalization of intimacy. Despite the relevance of this phenomenon, its assessment still relies on instruments with psychometric limitations and insufficient coverage of its technological perpetuation. In response to this need, the present study developed and validated the Affective-Sexual Violence Scale (EVAS), a brief, multidimensional, psychometrically valid and reliable self-report instrument designed to comprehensively map affective-sexual violence among Spanish youth, in line with international quality standards. The study was structured in three sequential phases: (1) review of instruments and development of an item bank; (2) a pilot study aimed at refining and selecting items with the strongest conceptual and statistical support (n = 534); and (3) psychometric validation in a large and heterogeneous sample, examining factorial structure, internal consistency, multigroup equivalence, and victimization profiles according to sociodemographic factors (n = 1,142). Findings suggest that the EVAS is organized around a bifactor model, comprising a general violence factor and four specific dimensions (physical, psychological-emotional, controlling, and sexual), which makes it possible to capture the complexity of in-person and digital victimization. Its multidimensional nature facilitates the identification of differential profiles, provides both global and specific assessment, and proves to be an agile, reliable, and culturally appropriate tool for research, screening, evaluation, and monitoring of preventive programs. It is thus proposed as an innovative tool for understanding how affective-sexual violence manifests in youth and for guiding strategies to prevent it and to promote healthier relationships, with clear potential for use in educational, community, and clinical settings.