|
Abstract
|
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this article by Bethke and DeJoy was to examine variables influencing the acceptability of dating violence in an exploratory study of undergraduate perceptions of dating violence.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors utilized a quasi-experimental cross-sectional design on a sample of 148 undergraduate students at the University of Georgia. The authors developed and used 8 vignettes describing a typical dating situation and manipulating three independent variables. The independent variables were the seriousness of the relationship, the sex of the perpetrator, and the setting in which the event took place. The story line of the scenarios involved a couple who had made plans for the evening and the subsequent disruption of the plans by one of the partners. The other partner became angry, verbally abusive and then slapped and pushed the tardy partner. The relationship status of the couple was either engagement or third date. The sex of the perpetrator was varied. The setting of the incident was manipulated by describing it as occurring in a restaurant or an apartment. The subjects were asked to rate the seriousness of the relationship portrayed. Subjects then rated the setting which the incident occurred as either private or public. These two ratings were used to check the validity of the manipulations of those two independent variables. Subjects also rated physical and emotional injury levels experienced by the victim. Respondents were asked to assign responsibility to both perpetrator and victim. They then judged the appropriateness of seven different victim response actions. The Conflict Tactics Scale was used to measure subjects' previous experience with dating violence. Dating history was also obtained by self-report data from each respondent.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The acceptability of dating violence varied with both the status of the relationship and the sex of the partner in this study. The authors found that the college students in their study were more tolerant of dating violence when it occurred in a serious relationship or was committed by a female. Slapping and pushing a dating partner were judged to be more acceptable in a serious relationship. How subjects judged various response actions was affected by the seriousness of the relationship. Subjects were more likely to advocate counseling and less likely to recommend ending a serious relationship when compared to a casual relationship. The authors also found that female perpetrators were attributed with roughly equal levels of responsibility regardless of the degree of seriousness of the relationship. Males in a serious relationship males, on the other hand, were viewed to be less responsible than those in a casual relationship. Male violent behavior against a dating partner was viewed more negatively than similar behavior by a female.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - College Student Research
KW - Adult Attitudes
KW - Adult Perceptions
KW - Adult Male
KW - Adult Female
KW - Female Perceptions
KW - Female Attitudes
KW - Male Perceptions
KW - Male Attitudes
KW - Partner Violence
KW - Violence Against Women
KW - Psychosocial Factors
KW - Georgia
KW - Gender Differences
KW - Dating Violence Perceptions
KW - Socially Approved Violence
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Adult Violence
KW - Adult Victim
KW - Female Offender
KW - Female Victim
KW - Female Violence
KW - Male Offender
KW - Male Victim
KW - Male Violence |