Validation of the Korean Version of the Psychological Abuse Experienced in Group Scale (K-PAEGS)

Objectives The purpose of this study was to validate the Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale (PAEGS) developed by Saldaña et al., (2017) for use in the Korean population. Methods The survey was administered on 248 adult survivors who belonged to a group and experienced psychological abuse on a group scale and currently withdrew from the group. This study was conducted exploratory factor analysis, confirmative factor analysis, and reliability test. Results First, the exploratory factor analysis(n=113) was carried out with 24 items chosen after item analysis, and the result revealed a two-factor structure divided into indoctrination and isolation. Second, the confirmatory factor analysis(n=135) was conducted, and the two-factor model consisting of 24 items was confirmed responses to K-PAEGS; ‘Indoctrination’(16), ‘Isolation’(8). Third, K-PAEGS show high internal consistency. As a result of the correlation analysis to identify the criterion-related validity, K-PAEGS has a positive correlation with IES-R-K. Conclusions The study discussed the implications of psychological counseling intervention for survivors who experienced psychological abuse in the group by validating the Psychological Abuse Experienced in Groups Scale.