The abuse dimensions inventory - Initial data on a research measure of abuse severity

Abuse characteristics and severity although critical constructs in child maltreatment research, have been found to be among the constructs least well measured by existing instruments. Three studies are presented describing the development and testing of an instrument the Abuse Dimensions Inventory (ADI), designed to address these needs. The first study surveys a national sample of professionals to determine rankings and agreement on rankings for abuse severity across a number of dimensions. Scales on the ADI were constructed based on the results. The second study examines interrater reliability of the instrument based on semistructured interview data. The third study examines the instrument's construct validity by factor analysis. The findings suggest that considerable agreement exists on how professionals rank abuse features in terms of severity and that ADI scales based on these rankings can be reliably coded from interview data. Additionally, the instrument was found to possess a factor structure consistent with expectations.