Comparing Three Measures of Psychological Aggression: Psychometric Properties and Differentiation from Negative Communication

The authors evaluated the psychometric properties of three measures of psychological aggression: The Conflict Tactics Scales-2nd Version: Psychological Aggression Scale (CTS2-PS), The Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEA), and The Test of Negative Social Exchange (TENSE). One hundred newlywed couples completed these measures as well as measures of communication, marital satisfaction, physical aggression, and depressive symptoms. Couples also participated in two problem-solving discussions that were later coded for positive and negative affect. Psychological aggression measures were internally consistent at the overall scale level (Cronbach’s αs >0.77), with the exception of the CTS2-PS. The internal consistency coefficients of the MMEA and TENSE subscales were variable. Finally, convergent validity correlations were moderate and divergent validity analyses revealed that the three measures correlated moderately with negative communication pattern measures. Implications for enhancing conceptual models and intervention efforts are discussed. Portions of this article were presented at the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy Conference, November, 2003.