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The revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2) is the most widely used instrument for measuring intimate partner violence. This article presents a short form to enable the CTS2 to be used when testing time is very limited. It also presents procedures that can be used with either the full test or the short form to classify individuals on the basis of severity of behavior toward a partner or by a partner, and to classify couples on the basis of mutuality or symmetry in the behaviors measured by the CTS2. The results indicate that the short form is comparable in validity to the full CTS2. Although the short form does not identify as many cases of partner violence as the full scale, it does identify a large number of cases and if there is insufficient time for the full scale, can be a useful screening instrument.
The Conflict Tactics Scales (Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996) is the most widely used instrument in research on family violence. The instrument includes scales to measure three tactics used when there is conflict in the relationships of dating, cohabiting, or marital couples: Negotiation, Physical Assault, and Psychological Aggression. In addition, there are two supplemental scales: Injury from Assault and Sexual Coercion. More than 200 papers and many books reporting results based on administration of the CTS have been published (for bibliographies see Straus, 2004; Yodanis, Hill, & Straus, 1997), and between 5 and 10 papers are currently being published each month. The purpose of this article is to further extend the utility of the CTS by making available a short form of the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (the CTS2) and by providing procedures for use with both the short form and the full CTS2 to classify individuals on the basis of severity of behavior toward a partner or by a partner, and to classify couples on the basis of mutuality or symmetry in the behaviors measured by the CTS2.
Need for a Short Form and Typologies
Short Forms. The CTS2 short form (hereafter, the CTS2S) was created in response to many requests since the CTS2 was introduced because the CTS2 is much longer than the original CTS. The full CTS2 consists of 39 items, each of which is first...