Centre for Evidence-Based Intervention, Department of Social Policy & Intervention, University of Oxford Barnett House, 32 Wellington Square, Oxford, OX1 2ER, United Kingdom; OPTENTIA, School of Behavioural Sciences, North-West University, 1174 Hendrick Van Eck Boulevard, 1900 Vanderbeijlpark, South Africa.
School of Medicine, University of St. Andrews, Medical & Biological Sciences, North Hough, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 9TF, United Kingdom.
Child Abuse Negl. 2017 Oct;72:326-337. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.08.016. Epub 2017 Sep 3.
Child abuse is a major public health problem. In order to establish the prevalence of abuse exposure among children, measures need to be age-appropriate, sensitive, reliable and valid. This study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire Abuse Short Form (ACE-ASF). The ACE-ASF is an 8-item, retrospective self-report questionnaire measuring lifetime physical, emotional and sexual abuse. Data from a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old, school-going adolescents (n=1733, 55.5% female) from the Romanian Health Behavior in School-Based Children Study 2014 (HBSC) were analyzed. The factorial structure of the ACE-ASF was tested with Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and confirmed using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Measurement invariance was examined across sex, and internal reliability and concurrent criterion validity were established. Violence exposure was high: 39.7% physical, 32.2% emotional and 13.1% sexual abuse. EFA established a two-factor structure: physical/emotional abuse and sexual abuse. CFA confirmed this model fitted the data well [χ2(df)=60.526(19); RMSEA=0.036; CFI/TLI=0.990/0.986]. Metric invariance was supported across sexes. Internal consistency was good (0.83) for the sexual abuse scale and poor (0.57) for the physical/emotional abuse scale. Concurrent criterion validity confirmed hypothesized relationships between childhood abuse and health-related quality of life, life satisfaction, self-perceived health, bullying victimization and perpetration, externalizing and internalizing behaviors, and multiple health complaints. Results support the ACE-ASF as a valid measure of physical, emotional and sexual abuse in school-aged adolescents. However, the ACE-ASF combines spanking with other types of physical abuse when this should be assessed separately instead. Future research is needed to replicate findings in different youth populations and across age groups.
儿童虐待是一个重大的公共卫生问题。为了确定儿童虐待暴露的流行率，需要采用适合年龄、敏感、可靠和有效的措施。本研究旨在调查不良儿童经历问卷虐待简短版（ACE-ASF）的心理测量特性。ACE-ASF 是一个 8 项、回顾性自我报告问卷，用于测量终生的身体、情感和性虐待。本研究的数据来自罗马尼亚 2014 年基于学校的儿童健康行为研究（HBSC）的一个全国代表性的 15 岁在校青少年样本（n=1733，55.5%为女性）。使用探索性因素分析（EFA）测试 ACE-ASF 的因子结构，并使用验证性因素分析（CFA）进行验证。检验了性别之间的测量不变性，并确定了内部可靠性和同时效标效度。暴力暴露率很高：39.7%的人遭受过身体虐待，32.2%的人遭受过情感虐待，13.1%的人遭受过性虐待。EFA 确定了一个两因素结构：身体/情感虐待和性虐待。CFA 证实了该模型很好地拟合了数据[χ2(df)=60.526(19); RMSEA=0.036; CFI/TLI=0.990/0.986]。支持了性别的度量不变性。性虐待量表的内部一致性较好（0.83），身体/情感虐待量表的内部一致性较差（0.57）。同时效标效度证实了童年虐待与健康相关生活质量、生活满意度、自我感知健康、欺凌受害和施害、外化和内化行为以及多种健康投诉之间的假设关系。研究结果支持 ACE-ASF 作为评估学龄期青少年身体、情感和性虐待的有效工具。然而，ACE-ASF 将打屁股与其他类型的身体虐待结合在一起，而这些应该分开评估。需要进一步的研究来在不同的青年人群体和年龄组中复制这些发现。
