A New Factor Solution for the Domestic Violence-Related Financial Issues Scale (DV-FI)

Economic abuse is a distinct form of intimate partner violence (IPV); yet few measures of economic or financial factors exist. Weaver, Sanders, Campbell, and Schnabel's Domestic Violence-Related Financial Issues Scale (DV-FI) was developed to assess the role of financial-related issues in an individual's experiences of IPV as well as perceptions of financial self-efficacy and the future role that financial issues will play in one's sense of financial security. Despite its relevance to research focused on IPV, only portions of the DV-FI have been used in a few studies. The original factor analysis of the DV-FI identified five subscales within a shelter-based sample of impoverished, predominantly African American women. The DV-FI demonstrated good psychometric properties at the time of development; yet to the authors' knowledge, the factor structure of this measure has not been evaluated with another sample. Given the importance of identifying economic abuse and financial self-efficacy among women who experience IPV, it is essential to have a reliable and valid measure of these constructs. The findings of the current study support the Financial Self-Efficacy subscale as a domain-specific measure of financial self-efficacy among women who experience IPV; however, additional validation is needed to explain the divergent findings for the remaining factors. (publisher abstract modified)