MEASUREMENT OF ECONOMIC ABUSE AMONG WOMEN NOT SEEKING SOCIAL OR SUPPORT SERVICES AND DWELLING IN THE COMMUNITY

Abstract

**Please note that the full text is embargoed** ABSTRACT: Scholars have defined economic abuse (EA) as tactics used by abusive partners to undermine the self-sufficiency and economic self-efficacy of survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV). However, no measures of EA have been tested in non-IPV-service seeking samples. The current study assesses the psychometric properties of the Scale of Economic Abuse (SEA)-12 (Postmus, Plummer, & Stylianou, 2016) in a nonservice seeking sample of adult females attending community college. A quantitative web-based survey was administered to a simple random sample of female community college students (n = 435). Analyses included confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). CFA indicated a poor fit for the three-factor model of the SEA-12 in this sample. The results of the EFA found a single factor model retaining four items (the Scale of Economic Abuse-Short, or SEAS). Women are experiencing EA outside of IPV service-seeking populations, and that tactics of economic control seem to be central to EA in this sample. [The published Version of this work, published by Springer Publishing Company in Violence and Victims, is available online: https://connect.springerpub.com/content/sgrvv/35/1/3 DOI: 10.1891/0886-6708.VV-D-18-00154]