Development of the Social Acceptance of Wife Abuse Scale in Rural Bangladesh

This study aimed to develop and validate the Social Acceptance of Wife Abuse Scale (SAWAS) in a Bangladeshi context. A total of 18 initial items were generated through literature review and focus group interviews with 16 university students. After meetings with 3 experts and 4 research students having extensive fieldwork experiences on domestic violence issues in rural Bangladesh, 12 items remained. These 12 items were subjected to exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with a sample of 186 university students. This produced a 2-factor, 6-item scale. We labeled the two factors, the circumstances where wife abuse is socially accepted: “disobeying family obligations” and “challenging male-authority.” Using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the factor solution was further tested with another sample of 1,929 rural citizens. The SAWAS showed very good internal consistency and validity. The SAWAS can serve as a protocol to direct measures in the effective prevention of widespread wife abuse in Bangladesh.