A Two-Dimensional Two-Layered Societal Index of Interpersonal Destructiveness: Internal Consistency Analysis

Although the World Health Assembly emphasized as early as in 1996 the need for violence prevention, there is still no generally accepted index for interpersonal destructiveness in a society. Hereby we propose a Societal Index of Interpersonal Destructiveness (SIID) that could be used to compare interpersonal violence in different societies. SIID is a composite of two sub-indices: (1) Index of Interpersonal Destructiveness Prerequisites, and (2) Index of Interpersonal Destructiveness Consequences. This study addresses the construction and internal consistency analysis of SIID. The Indices for periods 1989–1993, 1994–1999, 1999–2004, 2005–2007 and 2008–2010 are computed and for 28–48 countries, depending on availability of high quality and comparative data across time. We conclude that SIID has considerable potential as an internally consistent yardstick for evaluating and comparing the level of interpersonal destructiveness of societies worldwide.