Variables That Differentiate College Students with High and Low Level of Dating Violence: An Analysis by Gender

Abstract

An inquiry was made with respect to differences in personal variables (gender stereotypes, depression, and substance abuse) and relational (tensions in the couple's relationship and support) in college students with high and low level of violence in dating. A non-random sample of 769 students was selected from a university in southern Sonora of which 397 (52%) were included in the group with high and 372 (48%) with a low level of violence respectively. By discriminant analysis was found that in both genders groups with low level of dating violence reported greater support and lower tensions in the couple's relationship, also men with lesser violence reported lower substance use and hostile sexism. From the results it can be concluded that dating violence is associated in women with relational variables and in the case of men to a combination of relational and personal aspects.

Adolescent sexual violence: Prevalence, adolescent risks, and violence characteristics

“…Although this study established a potential connection between sexual violence perpetration over time, it did not account for the role of victimization on perpetration, nor the presence of other risk factors associated with sexual violence such as mental health 8,9 or substance use. 8,10 Overall, there is a need for a better understanding of the prevalence and characteristics of adolescent experiences of sexual violence.…”