Abstract

The purpose of this study is to validate the Attitudes Towards Dating Violence (ATDV) scale for the general adult population in South Korea. Attitudes towards dating violence refer to the level of awareness, acceptance, and justification of violence that may occur in dating relationships. The ATDV scale consists of six subscales, categorized by the type of violence and gender. After collaborating with the original authors in the adaptation process, the survey was conducted with 305 adult males and 304 adult females in South Korea. Rating scale modeling, confirmatory factor analysis, and the convergent validity were used for data analysis. The results showed that first, Rasch analysis confirmed that each subscale met unidimensionality and that a 4-point Likert scale was appropriate for the response categories. Item appropriateness analysis revealed that three items were excluded from the male subscale (out of 39 items) and two items from the female subscale (out of 37 items). Second, confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that all six subscales of the ATDV displayed a unidimensional structure, with all items fitting well within this structure. Finally, convergent validity and correlation analysis with criterion measures demonstrated that the ATDV scale effectively reflects the types of dating violence and gender characteristics. This study contributes to the reliability and validity of a tool for measuring attitudes towards dating violence, providing foundational data for prevention and intervention strategies.