Digital dating abuse measures: A critical review

Digital dating abuse is an emerging form of dating violence thought to have serious health effects on young people. In order to fully understand the nature and magnitude of the problem, a clear understanding of the measured construct, and robust measurement instruments are required. To date, a synthesis of available survey instruments and their quality has not been published, despite the existence of several instruments measuring digital dating abuse in young people's relationships. This paper describes existing instruments and their characteristics. A review of the literature from 1990 to 2016 revealed at least 17 different terms representing the digital dating abuse construct, 22 instruments measuring the phenomenon of which 16 were included in this review, and few clearly defined constructs. Definitional inconsistencies suggest that the instruments may measure various constructs including aggression and abuse, although this remains unclear. Eleven of the 16 instruments reported psychometric properties, at times limited to reliability evidence. This review highlights the need for delineation between aggressive and abusive digital dating behaviours, stringency in defining the digital dating abuse construct, and the development of a robust measurement instrument that yields both reliability and validity evidence.