Abstract
Objective
Identification and refinement of psychometric properties of the Reproductive Coercion
Scale (RCS) for use in survey research and clinical practice.
Study design
Young women aged 16–29 years seeking services in 24 Pennsylvania and 5 California
family planning clinics completed questionnaires. Data were pooled for analysis (n=4674), and underlying domains were assessed using Horn's Parallel Analysis and Exploratory
Factor Analysis. Multidimensional Item Response Theory was used to refine the scale
and assess reliability and validity of a short-form RCS.
Results
The full, nine-item RCS had two underlying domains: pregnancy coercion and condom
manipulation. Five items were retained in the short form: three about pregnancy coercion
(e.g., “told you not to use birth control…”) and two for condom manipulation (e.g.,
“taken off the condom while you were having sex…”; one of these items is the combination
of two original items on damaging the condom that were combined because of similar
statistical properties and face validity and a third item on removing the condom was
retained on its own). Recent reproductive coercion was reported by 6.7% and 6.3% of
the sample with the full and short-form RCS, respectively. Characteristics of women
reporting reproductive coercion were similar with both forms.
Conclusion
Findings indicate that reproductive coercion includes pregnancy coercion and deliberate
manipulation of condoms to promote pregnancy. Moreover, women experience reproductive
coercion across a continuum of severity. We selected items that varied in RC severity
and discrimination to generate a five-item short-form RCS for survey research and
clinical practice.
Implications
This study assesses the psychometric properties of the RCS, identifying pregnancy
coercion and condom manipulation as underlying domains of reproductive coercion. Recommendations
for using the RCS in research and clinical practice are discussed.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to ContraceptionAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- Intimate partner violence among economically disadvantaged young adult women: associations with adolescent risk-taking and pregnancy experiences.Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2009; 41: 84-91
- Is intimate partner violence associated with unintended pregnancy? A review of the literature.Trauma Violence Abuse. 2005; 6: 217-235
- Pregnancy coercion, intimate partner violence and unintended pregnancy.Contraception. 2010; 81: 316-322
- Recent reproductive coercion and unintended pregnancy among female family planning clients.Contraception. 2014; 89: 122-128
- Partner violence and abortion characteristics.Women Health. 2014; 54: 177-193
- Intimate partner violence victimization prior to and during pregnancy among women residing in 26 U.S. states: associations with maternal and neonatal health.Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2006; 195: 140-148
- Sexual coercion, domestic violence, and negotiating condom use among low-income African American women.J Womens Health. 1998; 7: 371-378
- The effects of an abusive primary partner on the condom use and sexual negotiation practices of African-American women.Am J Public Health. 1997; 87: 1016-1018
- The mediating role of partner communication skills on HIV/STD-associated risk behaviors in young African American females with a history of sexual violence.Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2008; 162: 432-438
- Coercive forms of sexual risk and associated violence perpetrated by male partners of female adolescents.Perspect Sex Reprod Health. 2011; 43: 60-65
- Male partner pregnancy-promoting behaviors and adolescent partner violence: findings from a qualitative study with adolescent females.Ambul Pediatr. 2007; 7: 360-366
- Birth control sabotage and forced sex: experiences reported by women in domestic violence shelters.Violence Against Women. 2010; 16: 601-612
- Male reproductive control of women who have experienced intimate partner violence in the United States.Soc Sci Med. 2010; 70: 1737-1744
- ACOG Committee Opinion No 554: reproductive and sexual coercion.Obstet Gynecol. 2013; 121: 411-415
- Adolescent relationship abuse and reproductive and sexual coercion among teens.Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2013; 25: 364-369
- Reproductive coercion and co-occurring intimate partner violence in obstetrics and gynecology patients.Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2014; 210: 42.e1-42.e8
- Reproductive coercion and partner violence among college women.J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2015; 44: 218-227
- Mental health impacts of reproductive coercion among women in Côte d'Ivoire.Int J Gynecol Obstet. 2014; 127: 55-59
- Reproductive coercion and intimate partner violence among rural women in Cote d'Ivoire: a cross-sectional study.Afr J Reprod Health. 2014; 18: 61-69
- Psychosocial factors and pre-abortion psychological health: the significance of stigma.Soc Sci Med. 2016; 150: 67-75
- Addressing intimate partner violence and reproductive and sexual coercion: a guide for obstetric, gynecologic, reproductive health care settings.Futures Without Violence, San Francisco, CA2013
- A family planning clinic partner violence intervention to reduce risk associated with reproductive coercion.Contraception. 2011; 83: 274-280
- Cluster randomized controlled trial protocol: addressing reproductive coercion in health settings (ARCHES).BMC Womens Health. 2015; 15: 1-16
- A family planning clinic-based intervention to address reproductive coercion: a cluster randomized controlled trial.Contraception. 2016; 94: 58-67
- The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2): Development and Preliminary Psychometric Data.J Fam Issues. 1996; 17: 283-316
- Sexual experiences survey: a research instrument investigating sexual aggression and victimization.J Consult Clin Psychol. 1982; 50: 455-457
- Determining the dimensionality of data: a SAS macro for parallel analysis, in SUGI.SAS Institute, 1990: 1-3
- Exploring the sensitivity of Horn's Parallel Analysis to the distributional form of random data.Multivariate Behav Res. 2009; 44: 362-388
- 2nd ed. Scale development: theory and applications. vol. 26. Sage, Thousand Oaks, CA2003
- Multidimensional Item Response Theory.Springer, New York2009
- Multidimensional IRT models for the assessment of competencies.Stud Educ Eval. 2009; 35: 57-63
- Reproductive coercion by male sexual partners: associations with partner violence and college women's sexual health.J Interpers Violence. 2015; ([Epub ahead of print])
Article info
Publication history
Published online: September 14, 2016
Accepted:
September 7,
2016
Received in revised form:
September 6,
2016
Received:
April 14,
2016
Footnotes
☆Funding for this study is from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD064407 and R21HD057814 to Miller and Silverman, and BIRCWH K12 scholar funds to McCauley). The opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Institutes of Health, of Adagio Health, or of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc.
☆☆Funding source: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD064407, R21HD057814, and BIRCWH K12HD043441).
★Conflicts of interest: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
