Assessment of Patterns of Dangerousness with Battered Women

This study was designed to test selected psychometric properties of the Danger Assessment (DA), an instrument used to assess risk factors that have been associated with eventual homicide in wife-battering relationships. Two items related to suicidal behavior of the male partner were added to determine if their inclusion would alter the instrument. Thirty women completed the interview. Analysis of data yielded strong support for test-retest reliability and moderately positive correlations in support of construct validity. Internal consistency of items was only weakly supported. Qualitative data were obtained to determine the human and environmental field characteristics and patterns that battered women utilize to assess the dangerousness of their relationships. A thematic analysis revealed that women who rated their relationship as very or extremely dangerous primarily based this assessment on the unpredictability of the partner's behavior.