Spanish/Catalan version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ): Psychometric properties

Abstract

The experience of multiple victimizing life events is known to be particularly harmful and to have an accumulative effect on mental health. Therefore, instruments that measure the whole range of victimizations a person is exposed to are widely needed. The main objective of this study was to confirm the structure of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire (JVQ screening version) proposed by Finkelhor and to explore its psychometric properties in a sample of school-attending adolescents. A total of 553 adolescents aged 13 to 18 years (60.4% girls) were recruited. The pattern of item endorsement was examined and a confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to determine the fit of the conceptual model. The psychometric properties analysed were internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the entire JVQ and for each of its five areas, the inter-correlations between these areas, and the instrument's criterion and concurrent validity. The pattern of JVQ item endorsement was very good. The conceptual model proposed by Finkelhor was confirmed empirically for preceding-year victimization data. The total JVQ achieved a good Cronbach's alpha for both the preceding-year (.82) and lifetime (.84) measures. Cronbach's alpha for the different areas of victimization ranged from .49 to .70. Kendall's tau inter-correlations between areas were positive and nearly all of them were significant. Criterion validity, based on correlations between JVQ areas and YSR DSM-oriented scales, was low, indicating a weak association between victimization and psychopathological symptoms in community adolescents. The results indicate that the JVQ, in its total version more than in its areas of concern, is a useful instrument for screening purposes, especially for analysing victimization during the preceding year.