Validation of the Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory
Richard M. Tolman, University of Michigan
Family Violence Research Conference, July 23, 1995
The Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory is a 58
item instrument designed to measure the level of psychological
maltreatment of women by their male partners in intimate relationships.
- Originally intended for use in clinical programs to assess
change in batterers' behavior, therefore comprehensiveness desired.
- Use in research to some extent limited by length of the measure.
Previous work (Tolman, 1989):
- Demonstrated a high rate of endorsement of the items by battered
women and men who batter.
- Established a factor structure which resulted in two reliable
subscales labeled Dominance-Isolation and Emotional-Verbal.
- Men underreported psychological maltreatment when partners'
reports used as criterion.
Current Study (Tolman, 1995):
- Establish validity of the scale.
- Does it successfully discriminate between battered and non-battering
relationships, and between battered and distressed relationships?
- Does it correlate with other measures of psychological maltreatment?
- Create a short-version of the scale for use in research.