Assessing coercive control in intimate partner relationships: psychometric validation and clinical thresholds of a French version of the Coercive Control Screening Scale (CCSS-F)
Abstract
Background: Coercive control is increasingly conceptualized as a chronic relational pattern of domination that may function as a mechanism of traumatization over time. Sustained exposure to intimidation, isolation, surveillance, and credible threat has been linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD (CPTSD), and depressive symptomatology. Despite its relevance for trauma-informed assessment, no validated French-language instrument exists, and no empirically derived cutoff score has been established for the original Coercive Control Screening Scale (CCSS).
Objective: This study aimed to translate and validate a French version of the CCSS (CCSS-F) and to establish the first empirically derived cutoff score to support clinically meaningful screening of coercive control exposure. Method: Following forward-backward translation and expert panel review, 304 Frenchspeaking women (18-70 years) were recruited, including 225 community participants and 79 women receiving hospital-based psychiatric care for documented intimate partner violence and trauma-related difficulties. Participants completed the CCSS-F and validated measures of battering (WEB), relationship abuse, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, relationship dissatisfaction, perceived social support, and social desirability. Factor structure (EFA/CFA), reliability (α, ω), construct validity, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted.
Results:The CCSS-F demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α and ω > .90) and a stable unidimensional structure. Strong associations were observed with battering and relationship abuse (ρ > .80), and moderate associations with PTSD and depressive symptoms, supporting convergent validity. Associations with social desirability were non-significant. ROC analyses indicated acceptable discriminatory accuracy (AUC ≈ .78) and supported an empirically derived cutoff score (> 34), representing the first internationally proposed screening threshold for the CCSS.
Conclusions:The CCSS-F is a psychometrically robust and clinically grounded screening instrument. By combining validation in a hospital-based trauma sample with the first empirically derived cutoff score, this study advances trauma-informed identification of coercive control and supports its integration into psychotraumatology research and clinical practice.
Evaluación del control coercitivo en las relaciones de pareja: validación psicométrica y umbrales clínicos de una versión en francés de la Escala de Detección del Control Coercitivo (CCSS-F)Antecedentes: El control coercitivo se conceptualiza cada vez más como un patrón relacional crónico de dominación que puede actuar como mecanismo de traumatización a lo largo del tiempo. La exposición prolongada a la intimidación, el aislamiento, la vigilancia y las amenazas creíbles se han relacionado con el trastorno por estrés postraumático (TEPT), el TEPT complejo (TEPC) y la sintomatología depresiva. A pesar de su relevancia para la evaluación basada en el trauma, no existe ningún instrumento validado en francés, ni se ha establecido ninguna puntuación de corte derivada empíricamente para la Escala de Detección del Control Coercitivo (CCSS). Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio era traducir y validar una versión en francés del CCSS (CCSS-F) y establecer el primer umbral de puntuación derivado empíricamente que sirva de base para un tamizaje clínicamente significativo de la exposición al control coercitivo.
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BibTeX
@article{atig2026assessing,
title = {{Assessing coercive control in intimate partner relationships: psychometric validation and clinical thresholds of a French version of the Coercive Control Screening Scale (CCSS-F)}},
author = {Fatima Le Griguer Atig and Corentin Gonthier and Tabatha Magagna and Mona Delage-Oheix and Lisa Le Roux and Alice Einloft Brunnet and Franck Salomé and Abdel Halim Boudoukha},
journal = {European Journal of Psychotraumatology},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1080/20008066.2026.2694186},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05775146v1},
note = {CC BY-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Assessing coercive control in intimate partner relationships: psychometric validation and clinical thresholds of a French version of the Coercive Control Screening Scale (CCSS-F)
AU - Fatima Le Griguer Atig
AU - Corentin Gonthier
AU - Tabatha Magagna
AU - Mona Delage-Oheix
AU - Lisa Le Roux
AU - Alice Einloft Brunnet
AU - Franck Salomé
AU - Abdel Halim Boudoukha
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
JO - European Journal of Psychotraumatology
DO - 10.1080/20008066.2026.2694186
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05775146v1
AB - Background: Coercive control is increasingly conceptualized as a chronic relational pattern of domination that may function as a mechanism of traumatization over time. Sustained exposure to intimidation, isolation, surveillance, and credible threat has been linked to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD (CPTSD), and depressive symptomatology. Despite its relevance for trauma-informed assessment, no validated French-language instrument exists, and no empirically derived cutoff score has been established for the original Coercive Control Screening Scale (CCSS). Objective: This study aimed to translate and validate a French version of the CCSS (CCSS-F) and to establish the first empirically derived cutoff score to support clinically meaningful screening of coercive control exposure. Method: Following forward-backward translation and expert panel review, 304 Frenchspeaking women (18-70 years) were recruited, including 225 community participants and 79 women receiving hospital-based psychiatric care for documented intimate partner violence and trauma-related difficulties. Participants completed the CCSS-F and validated measures of battering (WEB), relationship abuse, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, relationship dissatisfaction, perceived social support, and social desirability. Factor structure (EFA/CFA), reliability (α, ω), construct validity, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were conducted. Results:The CCSS-F demonstrated excellent internal consistency (α and ω > .90) and a stable unidimensional structure. Strong associations were observed with battering and relationship abuse (ρ > .80), and moderate associations with PTSD and depressive symptoms, supporting convergent validity. Associations with social desirability were non-significant. ROC analyses indicated acceptable discriminatory accuracy (AUC ≈ .78) and supported an empirically derived cutoff score (> 34), representing the first internationally proposed screening threshold for the CCSS. Conclusions:The CCSS-F is a psychometrically robust and clinically grounded screening instrument. By combining validation in a hospital-based trauma sample with the first empirically derived cutoff score, this study advances trauma-informed identification of coercive control and supports its integration into psychotraumatology research and clinical practice. Evaluación del control coercitivo en las relaciones de pareja: validación psicométrica y umbrales clínicos de una versión en francés de la Escala de Detección del Control Coercitivo (CCSS-F)Antecedentes: El control coercitivo se conceptualiza cada vez más como un patrón relacional crónico de dominación que puede actuar como mecanismo de traumatización a lo largo del tiempo. La exposición prolongada a la intimidación, el aislamiento, la vigilancia y las amenazas creíbles se han relacionado con el trastorno por estrés postraumático (TEPT), el TEPT complejo (TEPC) y la sintomatología depresiva. A pesar de su relevancia para la evaluación basada en el trauma, no existe ningún instrumento validado en francés, ni se ha establecido ninguna puntuación de corte derivada empíricamente para la Escala de Detección del Control Coercitivo (CCSS). Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio era traducir y validar una versión en francés del CCSS (CCSS-F) y establecer el primer umbral de puntuación derivado empíricamente que sirva de base para un tamizaje clínicamente significativo de la exposición al control coercitivo.
SN - 2000-8198
SN - 2000-8066
ER -