Objetive: The objective of the present study was the validation and scaling of the Plutchik's Violence Risk Scale (EV) in adolescent Spanish-speaking population.
Methods: For this purpose, a sample of adolescents from El Salvador, Mexico and Spain was obtained. The sample consisted of 1035 participants with a mean age of 16.2. There were 450 adolescents from forensic population (those who committed crime) and 585 adolescents from normal population (no crime committed).
Results: The internal consistency of the EV was estimated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient and with a value of 0.782. As for validity, the factorial structures found explain a large proportion of the variance (53.385%); the convergent validity was estimated by the correlation between the dimensions found, the EV and sociodemographic, criminological and personality variables. The developed scales are presented, for the first time in a cross-cultural sample, differentiating between gender and continent.
Conclusions: Consequently, the obtained results suggest that the EV is a valid and reliable instrument within adolescent Spanish-speaking population. Furthermore, it is a quick scale, easy to apply, which is something valuable in forensic assessment.