Development and testing of the velicer attitudes toward violence scale: evidence for a four‐factor model

Abstract

The factor structure of the Velicer Attitudes Toward Violence Scale [VATVS;Velicer, Huckel and Hansen, 1989] was examined in three studies. Study 1 (n 5 460 undergraduates) found a poor fit for a hierarchical five-factor model earlier advanced by Velicer et al. [1989], but a good fit for an oblique four-factor model. In Study 2, this alternative model was cross-validated in a confirmatory factor analysis of an additional 195 undergraduate students. In Study 3, the competing models were compared in terms of ability to predict self-reported aggression, with 823 undergraduate students. The new four-factor model proved superior. Other findings included evidence of factorial invariance on the VATVS, and more favorable attitudes toward violence among men than women. The VATVS appears to measure the same four attitudinal constructs for men and women: violence in war, penal code violence, corporal punishment of children, and intimate violence. Aggr. Behav. 32:122-136, 2006. r Keywords: aggressive attitudes and behavior; structure of attitudes towards violence; violence attitudes; aggressive and violent behaviorPublished online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley. com).

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