IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v13y2024i1p71-d1324298.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fear and Distress: How Can We Measure the Impact of Technology-Facilitated Abuse in Relationships?

Author

Listed:
  • Cynthia Brown

    (Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC 3010, Australia)

  • Kelsey Hegarty

    (Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Carlton, VIC 3010, Australia)

Abstract

Technology-facilitated abuse in relationships (TAR) is a relatively new form of intimate partner violence. Research exploring the impact of TAR on young people is limited, and while robust measures of TAR itself are emerging, measures of TAR impact lack evidence of validity. A mixed-methods approach was used to establish preliminary face and content validity for the measurement of TAR impact. Youth discussion groups (n = 38) revealed that (1) distress is favored over upset as a preferred measure of TAR impact, and (2) fear is an appropriate impact measure for some TAR behaviors. In an online survey, frontline practitioners (n = 171) perceived and subsequently rated a total of 54 TAR behaviors in the upper half of the severity range on fear and distress, with 6 behaviors ranking among each of the top 10 most fear- and distress-inducing behaviors. These findings provide evidence of both face and content validity for the use of fear and distress measures when seeking to understand the impact of TAR. Scholars, practitioners, and educators alike can use this evidence to enhance the validity of investigations into TAR and its impact, to support victims of TAR, and to improve TAR education among youth.

Suggested Citation

  • Cynthia Brown & Kelsey Hegarty, 2024. "Fear and Distress: How Can We Measure the Impact of Technology-Facilitated Abuse in Relationships?," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-16, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:1:p:71-:d:1324298
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/1/71/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/1/71/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Timothy M. Diette & Arthur H. Goldsmith & Darrick Hamilton & William Darity Jr. & Katherine McFarland, 2014. "Stalking: Does it Leave a Psychological Footprint?," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 95(2), pages 563-580, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Timothy M. Diette & Arthur H. Goldsmith & Darrick Hamilton & William Darity, 2018. "Adult happiness and prior traumatic victimization in and out of the household," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 275-295, June.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:1:p:71-:d:1324298. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.