Measurement Of Emotional Blackmail In Couple Relationships In Hong Kong

Emotional blackmail (EB) is a form of repetitive emotional manipulation in which to exact compliance, a perpetrator threatens to hurt or abandon a person close to him or her, by inducing fear, obligation, or guilt. The term EB is widely used colloquially and is often referenced by psychotherapists, but has not been empirically studied in couples. The objective of this study was to create a psychometrically sound measure of EB in couples. Participants were 199 expatriates of various ethnicities and permanent residents of Hong Kong in committed couple relationships. They completed an initial 25-item EB scale created based on Forward and Frazier's (1997) writings on EB, and other dyadic relationship measures including the Tactics of Manipulation Scale (TMS; Buss, Gomes, Higgins, & Lauterbach, 1987), Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse Scale (FHS; Gottman, 1999), and Couples' Satisfaction Index-16 (CSI; Funk & Rogge, 2007). Exploratory factor analysis retained a 20-item scale with two factors named Fear and Obligation/Guilt explaining 47.8% of variance in EB. Cronbach's alpha s were .92, .87, and .91, for the EB scale and Fear and Obligation/Guilt subscales, respectively. EB was strongly associated with the TMS (r = .61), FHS (r = .79), and CSI (r = -.63). Multiple regression showed that the EB scale explained 41.2% of variance in CSI and explained variance in CSI over and above TMS but not FHS. The 20-item EB scale appears to be a reliable and valid scale that warrants further research. Implications for future research and couple therapy are discussed.