A New Factor Solution for the Domestic Violence–Related Financial Issues Scale (DV-FI)

Abstract

Economic abuse is a distinct form of intimate partner violence (IPV); yet, few measures of economic or financial factors exist. Weaver, Sanders, Campbell, and Schnabel’s Domestic Violence–Related Financial Issues Scale (DV-FI) was developed to assess the role of financial-related issues in an individual’s experiences of IPV as well as perceptions of financial self-efficacy and the future role that financial issues will play in one’s sense of financial security. Despite its relevance to research focused on IPV, only portions of the DV-FI have been used in a handful of studies. The original factor analysis of the DV-FI identified five subscales within a shelter-based sample of impoverished, predominantly African American women. The DV-FI demonstrated good psychometric properties at the time of development; yet, to our knowledge, the factor structure of this measure has not been evaluated with another sample. Given the importance of identifying economic abuse and financial self-efficacy among women who experience IPV, it is essential to have a reliable and valid measure of these constructs. In this article, we describe the results of a confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis of the DV-FI using a community sample of 150 predominantly White, low-income women seeking civil legal services. We identified a four-factor solution of the DV-FI. Our findings provide support for the Financial Self-Efficacy subscale as a domain-specific measure of financial self-efficacy among women who experience IPV, but further validation is needed to explain the divergent findings for the remaining factors.