Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire

Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire R2

Reduced Item Version

David Finkelhor,1 Sherry Hamby,2 Heather Turner,1 & Richard Ormrod1

This update 3/22/11

The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire-2nd Revision (JVQ-R2) is an inventory of youth victimization which covers five general areas:

conventional crime,

maltreatment,

peer and sibling victimization,

sexual victimization, and

witnessing and other exposures to violence.

The JVQ-R2 is the core of the National Survey of Children’s Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV), which is the largest and most comprehensive survey on youth victimization and provides up-to-date national norms. The full JVQ-R2, including supplemental items, assesses more than 50 forms of victimization. This 12-item version can be used when it is not possible to use the full JVQ-R2.

Contents:

Page:

Overview of the Reduced Item Version 2

Reduced Item Version, Youth Lifetime Form (for ages 8 to 17) 5

Reduced Item Version, Youth Past-Year Form (for ages 8 to 17) 7

Reduced Item Version, Caregiver Lifetime Form 9

Reduced Item Version, Caregiver Past-Year Form 11

Reduced Item Version, Adult Retrospective Form 13

The Reduced Item Version forms can be copied, or, with the Word file, cut and paste into longer surveys. See pages 5-14.

1 Crimes Against Children Research Center, University of New Hampshire

2 Dept of Psychology, Sewanee, the University of the South. Questions:

Overview of the Reduced Item Version

of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire-R2

The 12-item Reduced Item Version can be used when it is not possible to use the full JVQ-R2. It includes at least one item from all of the major victimization domains of the JVQ-R2.

Comparison to the full JVQ: In the first nationally representative study with the JVQ, this version correlated .87 with the complete JVQ (the Separate Incident Version, which is scored using all follow-up information) and correlated .92 with the Screener Sum Version of the JVQ, which includes all items but asks only the screener questions, and no follow-ups. However, because of the smaller number of items, the Reduced Item Version does not assess poly-victimization as sensitively as the complete JVQ, correctly identifying 61% of the poly-victims identified with the complete JVQ, Separate Incident Version. The cutoff for poly-victimization on the Reduced Item Version is 5 or more positive responses (for more details, see Finkelhor, Ormrod, Turner, & Hamby, 2005). For clinical purposes, we recommend following up on any positive response.

Finkelhor, D., Ormrod, R., Turner, H., & Hamby, S. (2005). Measuring poly-victimization using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. Child Abuse and Neglect, 29, 1297-1312.

Other briefer alternatives to the full JVQ-R2. In addition to the Reduced Item Version, other briefer alternatives to the full JVQ-R2 include the Screener Only Version (all items, with no follow-up questions on incident characteristics) and the Abbreviated Interview (screeners with a selected subset of follow-up items). Many users also choose to use specific modules or items that meet their needs. Consult the full questionnaire and manual for details on these alternatives, follow-up items (on injury, perpetrator identity, etc) and administration procedures.

Contact and citation information:

To obtain the questionnaire, manual, or receive permission to use, contact Kelly Foster at [email protected].

For questions on administration or other content-related issues, contact Sherry Hamby, Ph.D., at .

There is no fee for the use of the JVQ-R2 in research or clinical practice, but we do require that all users properly acknowledge the source of the items.

Suggested citation:

Finkelhor, D., Hamby, S., Turner, H., & Ormrod, R. (2011). The Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire: 2nd Revision (JVQ-R2). Durham, NH: Crimes Against Children Research Center.

Item Descriptions for the JVQ-R2 Items Included In the Reduced Item Version

Note: Item labels (Robbery, Personal Theft, etc.) are not part of the questionnaire to be administered to respondents, but are for interpretation only. This description uses the youth self-report, lifetime referent version, but the constructs and the relationship to the full JVQ-R2 are the same for all versions.

Preamble: Now we are going to ask you about some things that might have happened in your life.

RIV1) Personal Theft [from Conventional Crime module, also scored in Property Victimization aggregate]

At any time in your life, did anyone steal something from you and never give it back? Things like a backpack, money, watch, clothing, bike, stereo, or anything else?

RIV2) Assault with Weapon [from Conventional Crime module, also scored in Physical Assault aggregate]

Sometimes people are attacked with sticks, rocks, guns, knives, or other things that would hurt. At any time in your life, did anyone hit or attack you on purpose with an object or weapon? Somewhere like: at home, at school, at a store, in a car, on the street, or anywhere else?

RIV3) Assault without Weapon [from Conventional Crime module, also scored in Physical Assault aggregate]

At any time in your life, did anyone hit or attack you without using an object or weapon?

RIV4) Psychological/Emotional Abuse [from Child Maltreatment module]

Next, we are going to ask about grown-ups who take care of you. This means parents, babysitters, adults who live with you, or others who watch you. Before we begin, I want to remind you that your answers will be kept totally private. If there is a particular question that you don't want to answer, that's O.K. But it is important that you be as honest as you can, so that we can get a better idea of the kinds of things that kids your age sometimes face.

At any time in your life, did you get scared or feel really bad because grown-ups in your life called you names, said mean things to you, or said they didn’t want you?

RIV5) Gang or Group Assault [from Peer & Sibling Victimization module, also scored in Physical assault aggregate]

Sometimes groups of kids or gangs attack people. At any time in your life, did a group of kids or a gang hit, jump, or attack you?

RIV6) Peer or Sibling Assault [from Peer & Sibling Victimization module, also scored in Physical assault aggregate]

(If yes to RIV5, say: “Other than what you just told me about…..”) At any time in your life, did any kid, even a brother or sister, hit you? Somewhere like: at home, at school, out playing, in a store, or anywhere else?

RIV7) Relational Aggression [from Peer & Sibling Victimization module]

At any time in your life, did you get scared or feel really bad because kids were calling you names, saying mean things to you, or saying they didn’t want you around?

RIV8) Sexual Assault by Known Adult [from Sexual Victimization module, also scored in Sexual Assault aggregate]

At any time in your life, did a grown-up you know touch your private parts when they shouldn’t have or make you touch their private parts? Or did a grown-up you know force you to have sex?

RIV9) Sexual Assault by Unknown Adult [from Sexual Victimization module, also scored in Sexual Assault aggregate]

At any time in your life, did a grown-up you did not know touch your private parts when they shouldn’t have, make you touch their private parts or force you to have sex?

RIV10) Witness to Domestic Violence [from Witnessing & Indirect Victimization module, also scored in Exposure to Family Violence aggregate]

At any time in your life, did you SEE a parent get pushed, slapped, hit, punched, or beat up by another parent, or their boyfriend or girlfriend?

RIV11) Witness to Assault with Weapon [from Witnessing & Indirect Victimization module, also scored in Exposure to Community Violence aggregate]

At any time in your life, in real life, did you SEE anyone get attacked on purpose WITH a stick, rock, gun, knife, or other thing that would hurt? Somewhere like: at home, at school, at a store, in a car, on the street, or anywhere else?

RIV12) Exposure to Random Shootings, Terrorism, or Riots [from Witnessing & Indirect Victimization module, also scored in Exposure to Community Violence aggregate]

At any time in your life, were you in any place in real life where you could see or hear people being shot, bombs going off, or street riots?

JVQ-R2, Reduced Item Version, Youth Lifetime Form

Now we are going to ask you about some things that might have happened in your life.

1) At any time in your life, did anyone steal something from you and never give it back? Things like a backpack, money, watch, clothing, bike, stereo, or anything else?

Yes

2) Sometimes people are attacked with sticks, rocks, guns, knives, or other things that would hurt. At any time in your life, did anyone hit or attack you on purpose with an object or weapon? Somewhere like: at home, at school, at a store, in a car, on the street, or anywhere else?

Yes

3) At any time in your life, did anyone hit or attack you without using an object or weapon?

Yes

4) Next, we are going to ask about grown-ups who take care of you. This means parents, babysitters, adults who live with you, or others who watch you. Before we begin, I want to remind you that your answers will be kept totally private. If there is a particular question that you don't want to answer, that's O.K. But it is important that you be as honest as you can, so that we can get a better idea of the kinds of things that kids your age sometimes face.

At any time in your life, did you get scared or feel really bad because grown-ups in your life called you names, said mean things to you, or said they didn’t want you?

Yes

5) Sometimes groups of kids or gangs attack people. At any time in your life, did a group of kids or a gang hit, jump, or attack you?

Yes

6) At any time in your life, did any kid, even a brother or sister, hit you? Somewhere like: at home, at school, out playing, in a store, or anywhere else?

Yes

7) At any time in your life, did you get scared or feel really bad because kids were calling you names, saying mean things to you, or saying they didn’t want you around?

Yes

8) At any time in your life, did a grown-up you know touch your private parts when they shouldn’t have or make you touch their private parts? Or did a grown-up you know force you to have sex?

Yes

9) At any time in your life, did a grown-up you did not know touch your private parts when they shouldn’t have, make you touch their private parts or force you to have sex?

Yes

10) At any time in your life, did you SEE a parent get pushed, slapped, hit, punched, or beat up by another parent, or their boyfriend or girlfriend?

Yes

11) At any time in your life, in real life, did you SEE anyone get attacked on purpose WITH a stick, rock, gun, knife, or other thing that would hurt? Somewhere like: at home, at school, at a store, in a car, on the street, or anywhere else?

Yes

12) At any time in your life, were you in any place in real life where you could see or hear people being shot, bombs going off, or street riots?

Yes

JVQ-R2, Reduced Item Version, Youth Past-Year Form

Now we are going to ask you about some things that might have happened in the last year.

1) In the last year, did anyone steal something from you and never give it back? Things like a backpack, money, watch, clothing, bike, stereo, or anything else?

Yes

2) Sometimes people are attacked with sticks, rocks, guns, knives, or other things that would hurt. In the last year, did anyone hit or attack you on purpose with an object or weapon? Somewhere like: at home, at school, at a store, in a car, on the street, or anywhere else?

Yes

3) In the last year, did anyone hit or attack you without using an object or weapon?

Yes

In the last year, did you get scared or feel really bad because grown-ups in your life called you names, said mean things to you, or said they didn’t want you?

Yes

5) Sometimes groups of kids or gangs attack people. In the last year, did a group of kids or a gang hit, jump, or attack you?

Yes

6) In the last year, did any kid, even a brother or sister, hit you? Somewhere like: at home, at school, out playing, in a store, or anywhere else?

Yes

7) In the last year, did you get scared or feel really bad because kids were calling you names, saying mean things to you, or saying they didn’t want you around?

Yes

8) In the last year, did a grown-up you know touch your private parts when they shouldn’t have or make you touch their private parts? Or did a grown-up you know force you to have sex?