Characteristics of female perpetrators and victims of dating violence

Although many researchers have explored the topic of dating violence, limited attention has been paid to female perpetrators. Very little research has examined variables that facilitate aggression for females in dating relationships. In an effort to investigate distinct types of violent behavior, the present study separated females who experience dating violence into three categories (bi-directional aggression, perpetrator-only, and victim-only) and compared them with a control group not previously exposed to interpersonal violence. The purpose of this study was to examine variables that discriminate violent females from non-violent females. Variables that were hypothesized to be associated with aggressive behavior and investigated in the current study were interparental aggression, self-esteem, love attitudes, and alcohol use. Three hundred female college students responded to multiple self-report questionnaires examining psychological correlates of dating violence. Females in the bi-directional aggression group were more likely to have witnessed their father abuse their mother and scored significantly lower on a measure of self-esteem than non-violent controls. Females in the control group demonstrated higher scores on a measure of mature and selfless love style than did the victim or perpetrator-only participants. There were no significant group differences regarding general alcohol consumption. Implications for prevention and intervention are presented and discussed.     

Longitudinal Mediators of Relations Between Family Violence and Adolescent Dating Aggression Perpetration

Few longitudinal studies have examined the pathways through which family violence leads to dating aggression. In the current study the authors used 3 waves of data obtained from 8th‐ and 9th‐grade adolescents (N = 1,965) to examine the hypotheses that the prospective relationship between witnessing family violence and directly experiencing violence and physical dating aggression perpetration is mediated by 3 constructs: (a) normative beliefs about dating aggression (norms), (b) anger dysregulation, and (c) depression. Results from cross‐lagged regression models suggest that the relationship between having been hit by an adult and dating aggression is mediated by changes in norms and anger dysregulation, but not depression. No evidence of indirect effects from witnessing family violence to dating aggression was found through any of the proposed mediators. Taken together, the findings suggest that anger dysregulation and normative beliefs are potential targets for dating abuse prevention efforts aimed at youth who have directly experienced violence.     

The Continuation of Intimate Partner Violence From Adolescence to Young Adulthood

Little attention has been paid to whether violence in adolescent romantic relationships is associated with relationship violence later in young adulthood. This study examined the continuation of intimate partner violence (IPV) from adolescence to young adulthood. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, results from negative binomial models and propensity score models showed that being victimized by relationship partners in adolescence was significantly associated with both perpetration and victimization in romantic relationships in young adulthood. Women reported higher levels of perpetration and lower levels of victimization than men did. Those who were living together (married or cohabiting) reported higher levels of victimization and perpetration than those who were dating. Further, such associations existed beyond the effects of parent–child violence and general aggression tendencies, suggesting the continuation of relationship‐specific violence. Finally, these patterns persisted after controlling for participants' age, race and ethnicity, parental education, and family structure.     

From Holding Hands to Having a Thing to Hooking Up: Framing Heterosexual Youth Relationships

ABSTRACT

The experience of forming romantic attachments during adolescence aids in the development of future relationships. The clearly defined and ordered process of forming these relationships does not seem to exist in adolescent relationships today. This study focuses on the language used to define current dating practices, how parents and youth deviate in these definitions, and the ambiguity associated with adolescent romantic relationship behaviors. Findings indicate several tags applied to youth relationships from talking to dating and youth relationships progress along a continuum with somewhat vague behavioral boundaries. These potentially vague boundaries suggest the need to thoughtfully operationalize the terminology used when assessing dating practices and developing programs for youth and their parents so that efforts to prevent adolescent intimate partner violence are more effective.     

Establishing Independence in Low‐Income Urban Areas: The Relationship to Adolescent Aggressive Behavior

Although adolescents in poor urban areas often assume independent, adult‐like roles, relatively little is known about the relationship between these roles and other adolescent behaviors. This research examines the association between independent roles occurring within different contexts (e.g. family, peer, work) and aggressive behavior among 516 low‐income, urban middle school students. Overall, adolescent employment is related to increases in aggressive behavior. However, associations that familial and peer independent roles have with aggression differ by the extent of youth involvement in paid work. Greater engagement in familial independent roles is associated with decreased aggression among employed adolescents, but with increased aggression among unemployed youth. Also, peer independent roles are related to significantly greater increases in aggression among unemployed, compared with employed, adolescents.     

Physical aggression, forced sex, and stalking victimization by a dating partner: an analysis of the National Violence Against Women Survey

This study used the National Violence Against Women Survey (NVAWS) of women and men to estimate noncohabitating dating violence prevalence by type (physical, forced sex, and stalking), associations between dating violence and other types of interpersonal violence across the lifespan, and association of dating violence with longer-term mental health including substance abuse. Among respondents aged 18 to 65, 8.3% of 6,790 women and 2.4% of 7,122 men experienced physical aggression, forced sex, or stalking victimization by a dating partner. Few (20.6% of women and 9.7% of men) reported more than one type of dating violence. Childhood physical aggression by a parent or guardian was strongly associated with subsequent dating violence risk for men and women. Dating violence (physical aggression specifically) was associated with current depressive symptoms, current therapeutic drug use (antidepressants, tranquilizers, or pain medications), and current recreation drug use for women. Implications for parents, survivors, health care, and service providers are discussed.     

Developmental Associations Between Adolescent Alcohol Use and Dating Aggression

Although numerous studies have established a link between alcohol use and partner violence in adulthood, little research has examined this relation during adolescence. The current study used multivariate growth models to examine relations between alcohol use and dating aggression across Grades 8 through 12, controlling for shared risk factors (common causes) that predict both behaviors. Associations between trajectories of alcohol use and dating aggression were reduced substantially when common causes were controlled. Concurrent associations between the two behaviors were significant across nearly all grades but no evidence was found for prospective connections from prior alcohol use to subsequent dating aggression or vice versa. Findings suggest that prevention efforts should target common causes of alcohol use and dating aggression.     

Does community violence exposure predict trauma symptoms in a sample of maltreated youth in foster care?

Previous studies find that childhood exposure to family and community violence is associated with trauma symptoms. Few studies, however, have explored whether community violence exposure (CVE) predicts trauma symptoms after controlling for the effects associated with family violence exposure (FVE). In the current study, CVE and FVE were examined in a sample of 179 youth with a recent history of maltreatment. CVE was associated with trauma symptoms after controlling for FVE, but FVE was not associated with trauma symptoms after controlling for CVE. In addition, negative coping strategies (e.g., self-harm, interpersonal aggression) partially mediated the association between CVE and trauma symptoms. These findings are discussed in terms of their implications for interventions aimed at addressing the needs of children exposed to violence.     

Examining intergenerational violence: violent role modeling or weak parental controls?

Family violence research has uncovered a positive relationship between parental violence and children's later involvement in intimate violence. In a similar vein, criminology's social control theory suggests that weak or absent parental controls are associated with a variety of delinquent acts. Little research, however, investigates the link between parental violence, parental controls, and dating violence. This article asks two research questions: How is inter-parental violence associated with parent-child attachments, monitoring, adolescent dating, attitudes toward violence, and dating violence? And second, are there independent and interactive effects of inter-parental violence, and parental controls on dating violence offending and attitudes towards violence? Dating violence offending is significantly associated with witnessed inter-parental violence, high dating frequency, and low parental monitoring. Attitudes towards violence are associated with witnessed inter-parental violence, lower parental attachment, and the interaction of witnessed inter-parental violence and parental attachment. The implications for role modeling and social control theory are discussed.     

The KIND Program for Adolescent Family and Dating Violence

Adolescent relational violence has significant and pervasive impacts for young people's current and future relationships. It is known that there is a cross-over between adolescent family violence and other offending behaviour, meaning there is a need for youth justice systems to recognise and respond to these forms of violence. This paper outlines a pilot intervention, the KIND Program, run in Youth Justice South Australia, and aimed at intervening with adolescent family and dating violence. KIND aims to provide tailored systemic intervention to young people and their support network, reducing violence while increasing connection and strength within relationships. The pilot of KIND ran for seven months in 2017, and had eight families participating in the program. Participation in, feedback from, and impact of the program suggest that participation was worthwhile and useful for young people and their families. The KIND Program would benefit from a more extensive pilot period to explore the outcomes of this form of intervention.     

Adolescents' and Parents' Perceptions of Runaway Behavior: Problems and Solutions

This exploratory study examined runaway adolescents' and parents' perceptions about youth and family life and explored reasons youth run away and what could be done that would help them remain home. Comparisons between adolescents' and parents' reports of family functioning demonstrated significant discrepancies. Few parents assumed any responsibility for the runaway behavior or change efforts. More adolescents blamed themselves or cited difficulties in parent–child relationships and offered ideas that entailed altering their attitudes and behaviors or family relationships. The implications of the findings for interventions and future research efforts are explored.     

The Role of Acceptance of Violence Beliefs and Social Information Processing on Dating Violence Perpetration

This study's main objective was to explore whether beliefs legitimizing dating violence predict dysfunctional social information processing (SIP) when adolescents deal with ambiguous dating situations, and whether this more proximal cognitive processing acts as a mediator between acceptance of violence beliefs and dating violence perpetration. Participants were 855 high school students who completed self‐report measures at three time points, with a 1‐year interval between them. SIP did not act as a mediator, but the emergence of anger emotions in dating conflict situations, along with aggression‐justifying beliefs, were revealed as essential in explaining dating violence. Previous aggression also explained a subsequent higher anticipation of positive consequences for aggressive acts. We discuss the implications for prevention and treatment strategies with adolescents.     

Motivations for self-defensive aggression in dating relationships

Previous research has suggested that the occurrence of dating violence is influenced by various motivations, including self-defense. While some data have suggested that females are more likely to use physical aggression in self-defense, assessment measures of self-defense have been limited in several notable ways, hindering efforts at fully understanding the myriad of reasons contributing to self-defensive aggression. The current study sought to examine motivations for physical aggression among male and female college students using a contextual self-report measure of self-defensive aggression designed specifically for the current study. Results showed that numerous motivations for physical aggression were endorsed by both males and females and, contrary to expectations, females were not more likely to use aggression in self-defense. Implications of these findings for future research and dating violence prevention programming are discussed.     

Neighborhood Conditions,Parenting, and Adolescent Functioning

ABSTRACT

This study examined youth self-reported data from a 4-year longitudinal study of 5th and 8th grade youth and their parents. Relationships between neighborhood conditions, parenting, and youth antisocial behavior were tested using structural equation modeling. The findings of this study appear to suggest there are two social forces that affect youth antisocial behavior: parenting and neighborhood conditions. Higher levels of parental acceptance and monitoring are directly and significantly associated with lower levels of youth antisocial behavior, as are higher levels of community social integration and lower levels of youth loneliness. Overall, it was found that some measures of neighborhood conditions and some measures of parenting were relatively equally predictive of youth antisocial behavior. Other measures of neighborhood conditions were predictive of parenting, but not strongly enough to also impact adolescent functioning.     

Partner Violence and Street Violence among Urban Adolescents: Do the Same Family Factors Relate?

Few studies have evaluated how participation in violence that occurs on the streets as part of criminal or delinquent behavior relates to violence that occurs as part of dating or marital relationships (partner violence). Using longitudinal data from 141 African American and Latino male youth (15–19 years old), the relation between family characteristics and participation in one or both types of violent behavior was evaluated. The youth in this study were more likely to report use of violence in relationships if they were also participating in violence as part of other criminal behavior. However, there were distinct groups of offenders. Among those males reporting involvement in a dating or romantic relationship, four groups were identified: (1) those who had not participated in either type of violence, 57%; (2) those who had participated in partner violence only, 14%; (3) those who had participated in street violence only, 12%; and (4) those who had participated in both, 17%. Discriminate function analyses significantly differentiated the group who had participated in both types of violence from the nonviolent group, with the former group having poorer functioning families. These two groups were also differentiated from the partner violence‐only and street violence‐only groups. No differences were found between the partner violence‐only and the street violence‐only groups. Implications for intervention and prevention are discussed.     

Youth violence in South Africa: exposure, attitudes, and resilience in Zulu adolescents

Exposure to violence is common in South Africa. Yet, few studies examine how violence exposure contributes to South African adolescents' participation in youth violence. The aims of this study were to examine effects of different violence exposures on violent attitudes and behavior, to test whether attitudes mediated effects of violence exposures on violent behavior, and to test whether adult involvement had protective or promotive effects. Questionnaires were administered to 424 Zulu adolescents in township high schools around Durban, South Africa. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test associations among violence exposures and both violent attitudes and behavior. Victimization, witnessing violence, and friends' violent behavior contributed directly to violent behavior. Only family conflict and friends' violence influenced violent attitudes. Attitudes mediated effects of friends' violence on violent behavior. Multiple-group SEM indicated that adult involvement fit a protective model of resilience. These findings are discussed regarding their implications for prevention.     

Does Observed Conflict Recovery Play a Role in Adolescent Dating Aggression?

In a study of conflict recovery and adolescent dating aggression, 14- to 18-year-old couples (N = 209 dyads) participated in a 1-hr observational assessment. Negative behavior was observed during conflict-evoking “hot” tasks and in a “cooldown” task. Physical and psychological dating aggression were assessed via questionnaires. Negative behavior measured in the cooldown task was not associated with dating aggression after controlling for carryover effects of negativity from the hot to cooldown tasks. Moreover, cooldown negativity moderated the associations of hot task negativity and dating aggression. Actor and partner effects were disentangled via dyadic data analyses. Given the paucity of observational studies of dating aggression, our findings are an important contribution to the literature and in need of replication and extension.     

The Moderating Effects of Support for Violence Beliefs on Masculine Norms,Aggression, and Homophobic Behavior During Adolescence

In 2 studies, beliefs supporting the use of violence moderated the association between normative masculine activities and aggressive behavior (Study 1) and normative masculine attitudes and aggressive and homophobic behavior (Study 2) among adolescent boys. These beliefs also moderated the association between normative masculine activities and homophobic behavior among adolescent girls. Consistent with social information processing models, beliefs about the appropriateness and effectiveness of violence predicted aggressive behavior for boys and girls, including bullying, fighting, and relational aggression. Furthermore, the association between masculine norms and aggressive behavior and homophobic behavior was partly dependent on holding these beliefs among boys. Continued research is needed to identify other beliefs that may distinguish different expressions of masculinities and their association with other attitudes and behaviors. Within the broader aggression and homophobia literature among adolescents there is a need to include the study of gender norms, while recognizing the complexity with which these factors are associated.     

Experiences of Violence, Post-Traumatic Stress, Academic Achievement and Behavior Problems of Urban African-American Children

This study examined the frequency of family violence, community violence, and witnessing of violence for 110 African-American children. Levels of post-traumatic stress, academic achievement and behavior problems of the children were also examined. The students were sixth graders between the ages of 11 and 13 from four inner-city Chicago public schools. The level of exposure to family violence was significantly related to levels of behavior problems and negatively related to school achievement. The level of exposure to community violence was associated with levels of behavior problems and approached significance in a negative direction with school achievement. Academic achievement was not significantly related to behavior, but was significantly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder, family violence, witnessing violence and approached significance with community violence exposure.