TY - JOUR PY - 2015// TI - The psychometric properties of the Korean version of the Verbal Abuse Questionnaire in university students JO - Psychiatry investigation A1 - Jeong, Bumseok A1 - Lee, Sang Won A1 - Lee, Jong-Sun A1 - Yoo, Jae Hyun A1 - Kim, Ko Woon A1 - Cho, Sooyun A1 - Ahn, Jee-Young A1 - Choi, Jeewook SP - 190 EP - 196 VL - 12 IS - 2 N2 - OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Korean Verbal Abuse Questionnaire (K-VAQ) that consists of 15 items related with life-time verbal aggression exposure.

METHODS: A total of 5814 university students who agreed to take part in the study completed the K-VAQ, the Korean version of the Life Event CheckList (LEC-K) and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (K-IES-R). Internal consistency was checked by using item-total item correlation and Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were performed, and convergent and concurrent validity levels were examined. Finally, a cluster analysis was conducted to verify the validity of the cutoff point of the K-VAQ.

RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha correlation coefficient was 0.9. The K-VAQ showed a single factor structure which explained 55.34% of the total variance. The K-VAQ was significantly associated with the LEC-K (r=0.24) and K-IES-R (r=0.28), indicating good convergent validity and concurrent validity. The cluster analysis provided four clusters of trauma experiences: high, moderate, low, and minimal, with K-VAQ ranges of 43-81, 20-42, 7-19, and 0-6, respectively. In a further investigation, a K-VAQ score of 40 was found to be the appropriate cutoff point to delineate the highly verbally abused group, as used in the previous studies. A sum of 36.5% of the highly verbally abused group reported to show substantial symptoms of PTSD (K-IES-R score >22).

CONCLUSION: The present findings suggest that the K-VAQ has good psychometric properties for assessing verbal aggression among the Korean population.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 1738-3684 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.4306/pi.2015.12.2.190 ID - ref1 ER -