Abstract
ObjectivesThe paper describes the creation of a new scale to measure intimate partner violence (IPV) among gay and bisexual men.MethodsSeven focus group discussions were held with gay and bisexual men, focusing on defining intimate partner violence: 30 forms of IPV were identified. A venue-recruited sample of 912 gay and bisexual men was surveyed, examining definitional understanding and recent experiences of each of the 30 forms of IPV. Participants were also asked questions from the CDC definition of intimate partner violence and the short-form of the Conflicts Tactics Scale (CTS2S). Factor analysis of responses to the definitional questions was used to create the IPV-GBM scale, and the prevalence of intimate partner violence was compared with that identified by the CDC and CTS2S measures of intimate partner violence.ResultsA 23-item scale, with 5 unique domains, was created, with strong internal reliability (Cronbach Alpha >.90). The IPV-GBM scale mirrored both the CDC and CTS2S definitions of intimate partner violence, but contained additional domains such as controlling violence, monitoring behaviors, emotional violence, and HIV-related violence. The new scale identified a significantly higher prevalence of IPV than either of the more commonly used measures.ConclusionsThe results presented here provide encouraging evidence for a new, more accurate measure of intimate partner violence among gay and bisexual men in the U.S.
Highlights
The emergence of research on intimate partner violence (IPV) among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) has demonstrated that IPV occurs in male-male partnerships at rates similar to or higher than opposite-sex partnerships [1,2,3]
While IPV is universal across sexual orientations, it is not clear as to the extent to which the typologies of IPV – especially psychological IPV and controlling behaviors – experienced by gay and bisexual men are different to those experienced by heterosexual women, perhaps contributing to the wide range of prevalence estimates found in the literature
In this paper we describe the development of a new scale – the intimate partner violence among gay and bisexual men (IPV-GBM) scale – and compare the prevalence of IPV identified with that identified with the CTS2S and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) measures of IPV
Summary
The emergence of research on intimate partner violence (IPV) among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) has demonstrated that IPV occurs in male-male partnerships at rates similar to or higher than opposite-sex partnerships [1,2,3]. Studies of IPV among gay and bisexual men have suffered from a number of methodological limitations [9,10], including a challenge not unique to the field of same-sex IPV research: a lack of an uniform definition of IPV and use of IPV definitions non-specific to MSM [11,12,13,14,15]. While IPV is universal across sexual orientations, it is not clear as to the extent to which the typologies of IPV – especially psychological IPV and controlling behaviors – experienced by gay and bisexual men are different to those experienced by heterosexual women, perhaps contributing to the wide range of prevalence estimates found in the literature. The new IPV-GBM scale has the potential to significantly improve the accuracy of the measurement of IPV among gay and bisexual men in the US, allowing a more accurate understanding of the relationships between IPV and health outcomes experienced by gay and bisexual men
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