Development and validation of a shortened version of the Child Abuse Self Report Scale (CASRS-12) in the Arabic language

Resumen

Background All available scales to screen for child abuse may be challenging to administer due to their length. Indeed, a higher number of items is associated with more administration time and less motivation to engage in responding. We aimed through this study to examine the psychometric properties of a brief Arabic version of the Child Abuse Self Report Scale (CASRS-12) in terms of factorial structure, internal consistency, divergent validity, and correlations with measures of bullying victimization, eating attitudes and perceived social support. Methods We performed a cross-sectional, web-based study among Community Lebanese adolescents; where two samples have been used (Sample 1: N = 852, aged 15.34 ± 1.18 years, 54.8% females; Sample 2: N = 404, aged 16.60 ± 1.51 years, 57.2% females). The construct validity was tested using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Results Results revealed that both EFA and CFA yielded a four-factor structure for the CASRS-12 that mirrors the original four factors captured by the original CASRS. The scale also showed a good internal consistency as evidenced through McDonald’s ω values ranging from 0.87 to 0.93 for the four subscales; and configural, metric, and scalar invariance across gender. Finally, we found that all CASRS-12 dimensions were significantly and positively correlated with more inappropriate eating attitudes and lower social support; and that psychological, physical, and sexual abuse correlated with higher bullying victimization Conclusion In light of these findings, we potentially encourage clinicians and researchers to use this scale as a valid and reliable measure of child abuse among Arabic-speaking populations.

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Cómo citar (APA 7)

Fekih-Romdhane, F., Dabbous, M., Hallit, R., Malaeb, D., Sawma, T., Obeid, S., & Hallit, S. (2022). Development and validation of a shortened version of the Child Abuse Self Report Scale (CASRS-12) in the Arabic language. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13034-022-00533-3