Child Abuse Scale: Factor Structure and Psychometric Properties Evaluation in Bangladeshi Context.

Child abuse has become an area of global interest recently. However, a valid Bangla child abuse measure is missing to assess abusive behavior toward children in the Bangla-speaking population. Therefore, this research investigated the factor structure and psychometric properties of the child abuse scale (CAS) in Bangladeshi context. This scale is originally developed in Pakistan. The first step of the present study involved translating the original CAS into Bangla and translating it back to English. Then, a panel consisting of experts reviewed and validated the back-translation to corroborate the translation was compatible with the original meaning. Eventually, the final version of the CAS was administered on 132 children. The results of exploratory factor analysis (using maximum likelihood) yielded three factors of the Bangla CAS, including emotional neglect, abusive behavior, and physical neglect. These factors accounted for 34.91% of variance. The confirmatory factor analysis also showed adequate goodness of fit in the three-factor structure. Results further demonstrated that the Bangla CAS and its three factors showed an acceptable level of internal consistency. Concerning convergent and divergent validity, the Bangla CAS was positively correlated with the three dimensions of PARQ: hostility/aggression, indifference/neglect, and undifferentiated rejection, and negatively correlated with another dimension of PARQ: warmth/affection. Therefore, the Bangla CAS displayed satisfactory psychometric properties. This implies that the CAS might be viable in investigating abusive behavior toward children in clinical and research settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]