Violencia Y Trastorno Mental

Journal of Interpersonal Violence http://jiv.sagepub.com/

Violence-Related Attitudes and Beliefs : Scale Construction and Psychometrics
Pamela A. Brand and Phyllis A. Anastasio J Interpers Violence 2006 21: 856 DOI: 10.1177/0886260506288934 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/21/7/856

Published by:
http://www.sagepublications.com

On behalfof:
American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children

Additional services and information for Journal of Interpersonal Violence can be found at: Email Alerts: http://jiv.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://jiv.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Citations:http://jiv.sagepub.com/content/21/7/856.refs.html

Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Universidad de Malaga on April 6, 2011

Violence-Related Attitudes and Beliefs
Scale Construction and Psychometrics
Pamela A. Brand
State University of New York College at Oswego

Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume 21 Number 7 July 2006 856-868 © 2006 Sage Publications 10.1177/0886260506288934 http://jiv.sagepub.comhosted at http://online.sagepub.com

Phyllis A. Anastasio
Saint Joseph’s University

The 50-item Violence-Related Attitudes and Beliefs Scale (V-RABS) includes three subscales measuring possible causes of violent behavior (environmental influences, biological influences, and mental illness) and four subscales assessing possible controls of violent behavior (death penalty, punishment,prevention, and catharsis). Each subscale demonstrates good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Thus, the V-RABS and its component subscales can be valuable research tools for understanding people’s beliefs about the causes and controls of violent crime. Keywords: attitude measurement; violence prevention; scale construction; punishment; death penalty

A

ttitudes toward and beliefsabout violent crime and punishment may have important implications for crime control public policy (Flanagan & Longmire, 1996; Roberts, 1992). However, obtaining an accurate assessment of these attitudes has been problematic. Crime and punishment attitudes and beliefs are usually measured through public opinion polls (e.g., Flanagan & Longmire, 1996; Halim & Stiles, 2001; Hart, 1998) and single-itemmeasures (e.g., Dull & Wint, 1997; Luginbuhl & Middendorf, 1988; Moy, Scheufele, Eveland, & McLeod, 2001; Sandys, 1995; Sotirovic, 2001). At
Authors’ Note: Portions of these results were presented at the 2005 Eastern Psychological Association Annual Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. We appreciate Ms. Carolyn Spach’s assistance with this research. We thank Drs. Cheryl Kaus and Sandra Moore fortheir valuable comments on an earlier draft of this article. Correspondence concerning this article, including requests for a copy of the V-RABS, should be addressed to Pamela A. Brand, Department of Psychology, SUNY College at Oswego, 7060 State Route 104W, Oswego, NY 13126-3599: e-mail brand@oswego.edu. 856
Downloaded from jiv.sagepub.com at Universidad de Malaga on April 6, 2011

Brand,Anastasio / Violence-Related Attitudes and Beliefs

857

best, public opinion polls provide only an “elementary understanding” (Hart, 1998, p. 141) of opinions regarding these complex issues. Others have echoed this concern about using public opinion polls to assess attitudes toward violent crime and punishment (e.g., Ellsworth & Ross, 1983). There are several good scales that assess respondents’attitudes toward using violence (e.g., Funk, Elliott, Bechtoldt, Pasold, & Tsavoussis, 2003; Funk, Elliott, Urman, Flores, & Mock, 1999; Velicer, Huckel, & Hansen, 1989). However, we could not find a scale or collection of scales that measures peoples’ attitudes toward and beliefs about the causes of violent crime (such as environmental and biological influences), and few scales measuring violent...