MENU

Indian Family Violence and Control Scale (IFVCS)

The Indian Family Violence and Control Scale (IFVCS) is designed to measure physical, sexual, and psychological abuse and control (including financial control) experienced by a married woman at the hands of her spouse and marital family in India. The 63-item scale has four subscales: Control, Psychological Violence, Physical Violence, and Sexual Violence.

Categories

Geographies Tested: India

Populations Included: Female

Age Range: Adults

Items:

Control

During my entire married life, without being bothered by my husband or his family, I could...

1. rest and relax when I wanted to.
2. spend my own or self-earned money on my natal family.
3. spend my own or self-earned money on my children.
4. spend my own or self-earned money on my friends.
5. spend my own or self-earned money for my personal things.
6. take up a new job or remain in my current job if I wanted to.
7. go out of the house.
8. visit my natal family, friends, coworkers, relatives, or other acquaintances.
9. talk freely on the phone or send SMS (text) messages.
10. seek medical care for myself.
11. make my own decisions about family-planning such as getting pregnant, using contraception, spacing between children, and permanent sterilization.
12. wear any type of dress and have any style that I wanted.
13. freely invite my natal family members and friends to visit me in my matrimonial home.
14. have sex how and when I wanted to.

Psychological Violence

My husband or a member of his family. . .

15. screamed at me when I was alone.
16. excessively criticized me for my work at home.
17. screamed at me or insulted me in front of others, in a public place, or on a social networking site.
18. threatened that hethey would send me out of the house.
19. forced me to leave the house.
20. threatened to send me to my natal home against my will.
21. sent me to my natal home against my will.
22. harassed me for wedding-related gifts or money such as maanpaan or dowry.
23. harassed my natal family for wedding-related gifts or money such as maanpaan or dowry.
24. taunted me about my poor health.
25. threatened to hurt or hurt my children because heshe was angry with me.
26. threatened to hurt or hurt a member of my natal family because heshe was angry with me.
27. threatened to leave me and get remarried.
28. intentionally spread false rumors about my character and chastity.
29. intentionally ignored me or did not talk to me.
30. intentionally starved me or gave me stale food.
31. intentionally confined me in the house.
32. intentionally left me out of family functions or social events.
33. bothered me for having a girl child.
34. bothered me for being infertile.
35. forced me to become vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
36. forced me to fast (perform upvas) when I did not want to.

Physical Violence

My husband or a member of his family. . .

37. forced me to work excessively against my will.
38. slapped or scratched me.
39. kicked, punched, or beat me.
40. twisted my arm or pulled my hair.
41. pushed me, pulled me, dragged me, shook me, or held me down.
42. tried to strangle or suffocate me.
43. tried to hang me.
44. tried to poison me.
45. threw things in the house when heshe was angry with me.
46. burnt me or threatened to burn me with a cigarette. (Dropped due to low variance.)
47. threatened to burn me using kerosene, chemicals, acid, or some other method.
48. burned me using kerosene, chemicals, acid, or some other method.
49. threatened me with a sharp object such as broken glass, a razor blade, axe, or knife.
50. attacked me with a sharp object such as broken glass, a razor blade, axe, or knife.
51. threatened me with a blunt object such as a belt, stone, broomstick, or rolling pin.
52. attacked me with a blunt object such as a belt, stone, broomstick, or rolling pin.

Sexual Violence

My husband or a member of his family. . .

53. forced me to have sex against my will during my menstrual cycle.
54. forced me to have sex against my will with someone else.
55. purposely made me drunk or high on drugs to force me to have sex against my will.
56. forced me to have sex without a condom against my will.
57. forced me to replicate a sexual behavior from a pornographic film against my will.
58. forced me to engage in vaginal sexual intercourse against my will.
59. forced me to engage in oral sex against my will.
60. forced me to engage in anal sex against my will.
61. videotaped us having sex against my will.
62. intentionally performed forceful sex to hurt me.
63. threatened to sexually abuse someone that I care about if I refused to have sex.

Response Options:

For Control Subscale:

Never - 1
Rarely - 2
Sometimes - 3
Often - 4

For the Psychological Violence, Physical Violence, and Sexual Violence subscales:

Never - 1
About once or twice in the past year - 2
About once a month - 3
About once a week - 4
Not in the past year but it did happen before in my married life - 5

Scoring Procedures

Items are measured through a 4 or 5-point Likert scale, then recoded as a binary variable (yes, no) with a “never” response corresponding to no, and any other response coded as yes.

Original Citation

Kalokhe, A. S., Stephenson, R., Kelley, M. E., Dunkle, K. L., Paranjape, A., Solas, V., ... & Sahay, S. (2016). The development and validation of the Indian family violence and control scale. PLoS One, 11(1), e0148120. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0148120


Psychometric Score

Ease of Use Score

Scoring breakdown

Formative Research

Qualitative Research

Existing Literature/Theoretical Framework

Field Expert Input

Cognitive Interviews / Pilot Testing

Reliability

Internal

Test-retest

Interrater

Validity

Content

Face

Criterion (gold-standard)

Construct

KEY

Ease of Use

Readability

Scoring Clarity

Length

Join the EMERGE Community

to get the latest updates on new measures and guidance for survey researchers