Psychometric validation of the Mexican Adaptation of the Technology-facilitated Abuse in Relationships Scale (AMTAR) to measure cyber-violence in dating. Validación psicométrica de la Adaptación Mexicana de la Technology-facilitated Abuse in Relationships Scale (AMTAR) para medir ciberviolencia en el noviazgo

Abstract

Dating relationships have been influenced by the advancement of new technologies and digital spaces. This development has given rise to a new issue within couple dynamics: cyber dating violence. Various scales have been used to measure cyber dating violence, such as the TAR Scale, which assesses the frequency of cyber dating violence experiences in the past year. Objective: To perform a cultural adaptation and psychometric validation of the TAR Scale in a population of Mexican university students. Method: An instrumental study was conducted with a sample of 255 Mexican university students. The psychometric validation included item discrimination analysis using Student’s t-test, internal consistency analysis through McDonald’s Omega and Cronbach's alpha. Construct validity evidence was obtained using exploratory factor analysis with generalized least squares and promax rotation. Results: Values of KMO=.903, Bartlett’s chi²<.001, and a three-factor structure with eigenvalues greater than 1 were obtained, explaining 66.3% of the total variance and showing internal consistency (ω=.89-.91, α=.86-.90) across 14 items. Discussion: This version demonstrates adequate cultural adaptation, good internal consistency indices, and construct validity evidence for measuring cyber dating violence in samples of Mexican university students.