What does this research mean for the field?

Most existing measures of psychological intimate partner violence fail to capture the full construct of psychological abuse, particularly covert tactics, and lack validation for sexuality- and gender-diverse populations. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.SYNTHESIS. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.NEUTRAL.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To identify measures evaluating psychological intimate partner violence, evaluate their content validity against a 21-category behavioral taxonomy, and determine their validation in sexuality- and gender-diverse populations.

September 2, 2026Trauma Violence & AbuseOpen Access

Measuring Psychologically Abusive Behaviors in Adult Intimate Relationships: A Systematic Review of Measures

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To identify measures evaluating psychological intimate partner violence, evaluate their content validity against a 21-category behavioral taxonomy, and determine their validation in sexuality- and gender-diverse populations.
Searched five databases (MEDLINE, PsycINFO, PubMed, Scopus, and ProQuest One Academic) through December 2025 without publication date restrictions.
Included 157 peer-reviewed English-language studies developing or validating dedicated psychological intimate partner violence measures or general violence measures with psychological subscales.
Across 77 identified measures, 82% (n = 63) covered less than half of the 21-category taxonomy of psychologically abusive behaviors.
Coverage focused heavily on emotional abuse, isolation, and personal control, while largely neglecting covert tactics such as gaslighting, information control, child-related coercion, and abuse concealment.
The Psychological Maltreatment of Women Inventory demonstrated the strongest overall performance among 35 psychological measures, while no general violence measures (n = 42) achieved both strong taxonomy coverage and adequate validation.

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Implication

Systematic review finds most psychological intimate partner violence tools miss covert tactics and diverse groups, highlighting the need for comprehensive assessment measures.

Cite This Study

Coates et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a97e2eac562ede874ec7520 https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380261476693

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Implication

Systematic review finds most psychological intimate partner violence tools miss covert tactics and diverse groups, highlighting the need for comprehensive assessment measures.

Measuring Psychologically Abusive Behaviors in Adult Intimate Relationships: A Systematic Review of Measures

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study

Measuring Psychologically Abusive Behaviors in Adult Intimate Relationships: A Systematic Review of Measures

Key Points

Discussion

Implication

Cite This Study