Empirically Examining the Risk of Intimate Partner Violence: The Revised Domestic Violence Screening Instrument (DVSI-R)

This study extends recent research on assessing the risk of intimate partner violence by determining the concurrent and predictive validity of a revised version of the Domestic Violence Screening Instrument (DVSI-R) and whether evidence of such validity is sustained independent of perpetrator demographic characteristics and forms of intimate violence. The analyses highlight violent incidents involving multiple victims as an indicator of “severe” violence. Previous research did not address these issues. The empirical findings support the concurrent and predictive validity of the DVSI-R and show that it is robust in its applicability. The findings further show that incidents involving multiple victims are highly associated with DVSI-R risk scores and recidivistic violence.