The effect of item order on partner violence reporting: An examination of four versions of the revised Conflict Tactics Scales

In the early 1970’s scholars reported some of the first estimates of intimate partner violence using an instrument known as the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS) (Straus, M.A., Gelles, R.J., 1979. Measuring intrafamily conflict and violence: the Conflict Tactics Scales. Journal of Marriage and the Family 41, 75–88). Since that time, the CTS and the CTS2 have become one of the most widely used measures of interpersonal violence. Despite its long history, this instrument is not without criticism. At the same time, only a few other instruments have been developed to measure intimate partner violence and consequently, the body of research representing knowledge about this topic remains primarily based on the Conflict Tactics Scales. This widespread use has occurred with only limited methodological assessment of the structure of the scale beyond initial psychometric analyses during its development. The present study evaluated the extent to which item order and format affect victimization and perpetration reporting rates as well as reliability of the CTS subscales.