Citation

Price EL, Byers ES, Belliveau N, Bonner R, Caron B, Doiron D, Greenough J, Guerette-Breau A, Hicks L, Landry A, Lavoie B, Layden-Oreto M, Legere L, Lemieux S, Lirette MB, Maillet G, McMullin C, Moore R. J. Fam. Violence 1999; 14(4): 351-375.

Affiliation

University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, E3B 6E4; Dating Violence Research Team, Canada

Copyright

(Copyright © 1999, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1023/A:1022830114772

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study describes the development and validation of three Attitudes Towards Male Dating Violence (AMDV) Scales and three Attitudes Towards Female Dating Violence (AFDV) Scales. These scales measure attitudes toward use of psychological, physical, and sexual dating violence, respectively, by boys and by girls. Eight hundred twenty-three students from grades 7, 9, and 11 participated in the validation study. All six scales have good internal consistencies. As predicted, students were more accepting of girls' use of violence than of boys' use of violence, and boys were more accepting of violence than were girls. The six scales were positively correlated with traditional attitudes toward gender roles and with each other, providing evidence for their construct validity. Higher scores on the AMDV Scales were related to boys' past use of violence in dating relationships and to their having aggressive friends, supporting their criterion-related validity. Higher scores on the AFDV Scales were associated with girls' past use of dating violence but not with their having aggressive friends, providing partial support for their criterion-related validity. Singly or in combination, the Attitudes Towards Dating Violence Scales can be used to increase our understanding of the development and maintenance of violence-supportive attitudes in adolescents of all ages.
dating violence - attitudes toward violence - adolescents.