Dating Violence in University Students: Validation of the DVQ-VP Scale In Bolivia.

Background: Dating violence is an increasingly studied subject as it is related to the initial stages of what could later become intimate partner violence and even intrafamily violence. It is believed that love can cause behavioral patterns that will eventually become habits. The objective: of this study is to have valid and reliable instruments, adapted to different contexts, to accurately and promptly evaluate victims and aggressors and guide an appropriate intervention. Method: we worked with 2216 volunteer university students from Bolivia who had at least one relationship in the past twelve months. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted to adapt the Dating Violence Questionnaire for Victimization and Perpetration (DVQ-VP) for the Bolivian context. Results: the appropriate psychometric characteristics were confirmed for evaluating violence in dating relationships using a reduced version of 18 items in a five-factor model for victims and a single-factor scale for the evaluation of aggressors, which were found to be invariant for sex. Conclusions: a significant variability was found among the studies, making them less comparable. The implications and limitations of the study are noted.