Abstract

SALDANA, Omar; RODRIGUEZ-CARBALLEIRA, Álvaro; ALMENDROS, Carmen  and  ESCARTIN, Jordi. Development and validation of the Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale. The European Journal of Psychology Applied to Legal Context [online]. 2017, vol.9, n.2, pp.57-64. ISSN 1989-4007.  https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpal.2017.01.002.

The aim of this study is the development and analysis of the psychometric properties of a new instrument to assess the possible psychological abuse experienced in a group setting. The Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale was administered to 138 people who self-identified as former members of abusive groups. An exploratory factor analysis revealed a common factor, which showed appropriate reliability. The scale scores were correlated with a prior measure aimed to assess group abusiveness, providing evidence of external validity. Participants reported a higher degree of psychological distress than normative samples, and those who requested psychological counseling after leaving the group had suffered group psychological abuse to a greater extent. The scale covers a wide range of subtle and explicit abusive behaviors and overcomes the limitations of previous instruments, being useful in both research and applied settings.

Keywords : Group; Instrumental study; Interpersonal control; Psychological abuse; Scale development.

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