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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: Although psychopathology has been broadly implicated as a risk factor for dating aggression, very little work has examined the externalizing and internalizing symptoms of both romantic partners to more fully understand associations between psychopathology and physical dating aggression among young adult couples. The present study examined the effects of each partner's psychopathology on physical dating aggression, the conjoint influence of both partners' psychopathology, and whether the effects of psychopathology on aggression depended upon the nature of the relationship.
METHOD: Actor Partner Interdependence Models were used to examine associations between psychopathology and physical dating aggression among 127 young adult couples (M age = 22.04 years). Actor Partner Interdependence Moderation Models (APIMoMs) were then tested to determine whether negative relationship characteristics exacerbated the effects of psychopathology on aggression.
RESULTS: Both males' and females' externalizing and internalizing symptoms were associated with dating aggression. Evidence of homophily was found, and actor partner interactions revealed that couples in which both partners had high externalizing symptoms were at greater risk, whereas when either partner had low symptoms, the risk was mitigated. Relationship risk factors interacted with externalizing symptoms to predict female physical dating aggression, and with internalizing symptoms to predict partner aggression.
CONCLUSION: Findings lend support to the merits of using a dyadic approach to examine individual risk factors and combinations of individual and relationship risk factors in predicting young adult physical dating aggression.
RESULTS could potentially inform clinical work on patterns and combinations of risk factors characteristic of high-risk young adult couples. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Language: en |