This study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationship Inventory (CADRI; Wolfe et al., 2001) and tested whether the factor structure was invariant across sex, race/ethnicity, and time.
Intimate-partner violence (IPV) in adolescent and young-adult dating relationships is a prevalent and serious public health problem. The measurement of IPV across adolescence has commonly relied on the CADRI, which postulates five distinct yet related types of IPV (i.e., threatening, verbal/emotional, relational, physical, and sexual); however, the CADRI has received minimal examination to confirm its factor structure, in particular, whether the factor structure is invariant across sex, race/ethnicity, and time, despite the clinical use of this measure for screening and treatment purposes. The current study conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of the CADRI and tested whether the factor structure was invariant across sex, race/ethnicity, and time. Adolescents (N = 1,042, 56 percent girls, mean age at baseline = 15.09, SD = 0.79) from high schools in the southwestern United States completed the CADRI annually for six consecutive years. Results confirmed the five-factor structure of the CADRI and demonstrated measurement invariance across sex, race/ethnicity, and time. The findings suggest that the CADRI captures five related but distinct types of IPV and that use of the CADRI is appropriate across sex, race/ethnicity, and time. (publisher abstract modified)