Evaluation Measures
The purpose of this page is to provide references for and information
on measures used to study rape. Most of these measures are also used
when evaluating rape prevention/education programs.
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Measure Descriptions &
Citations
 Attitudes
About Relationship Violence Questionnaire: This 11-item
questionnaire is a composite measure developed to assess changes in
knowledge, attitudes, and methods of dealing with relationship
violence.
MacGowan, M.J. (1997). An evaluation of a dating violence
prevention program for middle school students. Violence and Victims,
12, 223-236.
Attitudes
Toward Rape Questionnaire:This 25-item questionnaire
addresses the nature of sex differences regarding commonly held rape
myths among college students. Respondents were asked to rate their
degree of agreement or disagreement with statements such as "it
would do some women some good to get raped," and "women
provoke rape by their appearance or behavior using a 6-point rating
scale.
Barnett, N. J., & Field, H.S. (1977). Sex Differences in
University Students' Attitudes toward Rape. Journal of College Student
Personnel, 18, 93-96.
Attitudes
Toward Rape Victims Scale:The Attitudes Toward Rape
Victims Scale (ARVS) is designed to assess attitudes related toward
rape victims. The 25-item questionnaire consists of 8 positive and 17
negative statements about rape victims which deal with areas of
credibility, denigration, deservingness, trivialization, and victim
blame.
Ward, C. (1988). The Attitudes toward Rape Victims Scale:
Construction, validation, and cross-cultural applicability. Psychology
of Women Quarterly, 12, 127-146.
Attribution
of Rape Blame Scale :This 20 item questionnaire
examines the ways people account for rape. The extent to which
individuals blame situations, offenders, society, or victims is
examined. Example questions include: "Women entice men to rape
them," "Rape is more likely to occur in slum or 'bad'
areas," and "A man who commits rape should be locked up for
his act." This scale can be used to measure attitudes before and
after community education or service provider training programs.
Resick, P.A. & Jackson, T. L. (1981). Attitudes toward rape
among mental health professionals. American Journal of Community
Psychology, 9, 481-490.
College
Date Rape Attitude and Behavior Survey :The College
Date Rape Attitude and Behavior Survey (CDRABS) was based on a
literature review that focused on risk factors for date rape. The
questionnaire measures attitudes related to date rape among college
students, and behaviors that may affect the date rape risk. Internal
consistency was high for attitudes and moderate for behaviors. The
questionnaire has been used to evaluate a college date rape prevention
program.
Lanier, C.A., Elliot, M.N. (1997). A new instrument for the
evaluation of a date rape prevention program. Journal of College
Student Development, 38, 673-676.
Conflict
Tactics Scale :The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scale was
designed to measure the use of reasoning, verbal aggression, and
violence within family conflict. Items range from low in coerciveness
(such as discussing an issue) to high in aggressiveness (such as hit,
kicked, threatened with weapon). In recent years the CTS has been used
in research with high school populations (see O'Keefe, M. (1997).
Predictors of dating violence among high school students. Journal of
Interpersonal Violence, 12, 546-568).
Straus, M.A., (1979). Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence:
The Conflict Tactics (CT) Scales. Journal of Marriage and Family, 41,
75-88.
The
Dominance Scale: This scale explores three forms of
dominant behavior which may be found in dating relationships:
authority, restrictiveness, and disparagement. Previous results
indicate that the restrictiveness subscale is most closely related to
partner violence.
Hamby, S.L. (1996). The Dominance Scale: Preliminary psychometric
properties. Violence and Victims, 11, 199-212.
The
Forcible Date Rape Scale :The Forcible Date Rape Scale
(FDR) consists of 9-items that measure attitudes towards the use of
force to obtain sexual access.
Fischer, G.J., & Chen, J. (1994). The Attitudes Toward Forcible
Date Rape Scale: Development of a measurement model. Journal of
Psychopathology & Behavioral Assessment, 16, 33-51.
Gender
Stereotyping: From the SAFE DATES curriculum an 11-item
measure (developed by Foshee et al. 1998) used to evaluate the
rigidity of sex role beliefs. Includes questions such as "It is
more important for boys than girls to do well in school" and
" Most women can't be trusted". Response choices are on a
four point scale ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.
Foshee, V. A., Bauman, K.E., Arriaga, X.B., Helms, R.W., Koch, G.G.,
& Linder, G.F. (1998). An evaluation of Safe Dates, an adolescent
dating violence prevention program. American Journal of Public Health,
88, 45-50.
Intervention
in Dating Violence :This 7-item measure is used to
assess pretest-posttest changes in behavioral intention following a
dating violence prevention program used in several Canadian high
schools. Students are asked to indicate how they would respond if they
became aware of, or were witness to abuse among their peers.
Jaffe, P.G., Suderman, M., Reitzel, D., & Killip, S.M., (1992).
An evaluation of a secondary school primary prevention program on
violence in intimate relationships. Violence and Victims, 7, 129-146.
Inventory
of Sexual Pressure Dynamics:The Inventory or Sexual
Pressure Dynamics (ISPD) is a 21 item questionnaire which assess the
use of verbal statements (promises, insincere statements of
affection); persistent physical attempts (continuous body contacts,
roving hands); threats of force (threatened bodily injury); and use of
force (hitting or twisting arms) in premarital sexual interactions.
Participants were asked if they had been pressured into the behavior
listed above.
Christopher, F. S. (1988). An Initial Investigation Into a
Continuum of Premarital Sexual Pressure. The Journal of Sex Research.
25 (2), 255-266.
Rape
Myth Scale:The Rape Myth Scale (RMS) is a 19 item scale
which was developed to examine various aspects of the rape myth
construct, including: false charges, victim-desire, victim
precipitation , and trivialization of rape. This scale has short items
and simple wording that makes it appropriate for use with middle
school students.
Lonsway, K.A., & Fitzgerald, L.F. (1995). Attitudinal
antecedents of rape myth acceptance: A theoretical and empirical
reexamination. Journal of Personality & Social Psychology, 68,
704-711.
The
Revised Conflict Tactics Scale :In 1996 the CTS was
revised to include measures of injury, sexual coercion, and use of
negotiation. Additionally wording was revised to increase clarity and
more clearly differentiate between minor and severe levels of each
scale. The new scale requires a sixth grade reading level and can be
used in studying partner violence in high school populations.
Straus, M.A., Hamby, S.L., Boney-McCoy, S., & Sugarman, D.B.
(1996). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2): Development and
preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 286-316.
Robinson
Behavioral Inventory :The Robinson Behavioral Inventory
(RBI) is a 34-item measure developed to assess the relationship
between attitude and behavior in the area of sex-roles. This measure
has been used to evaluate outcome studies which measure reported
changes in sex roles.
Robinson, E.A., & Follingstad, D.R. (1985). Development and
validation of a behavioral sex-role inventory. Sex Roles, 13, 691-713.
Sexual
Experiences Survey :The Sexual Experiences Survey (SES)
is a widely used 14-item instrument used to measure degrees of sexual
victimization. Questions are used to assess whether/if victimization
occurred as a result of coercion, threats, drugs, authority, or use of
force. One example is "Have you ever had sexual intercourse when
you didn't want to because a man gave you alcohol or drugs?"
Koss, M.P., & Gidycz, C.A. (1985). Sexual Experiences Survey:
Reliability and validity. Journal of Consulting and Clinical
Psychology, 55, 162-170.
Texas
Rape Scale: The Texas Rape Scale (TRS) consists of 96
statements (including the 10-item Texas Rape Intensity Scale) designed
to measure sexual aggression, rape rationalization, and attitudes
towards punishment for rape. Also included is a 15-item knowledge
test, and 16 background or demographic questions.
Young, R.K., & Thiessen, D. (1992). The Texas Rape Scale.
Ethology & Sociobiology, 13,19-33.
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