|
Abstract
|
Persons who have perpetrated and/or been victims of courtship violence may not label this activity as violence. However, jealousy, verbal fighting, and problems regarding sexual access are commonly identified as precipitators of violence, and may be considered risk markers. This study of dating problems ("discontents” and “dilemmas") in samples of high school and college students reveals very low rates of voluntary mention of violent activity in dating, but much higher rates of voluntary mention of its precipitators. Implications for counselors, teachers, and others concerned with identifying and/or preventing courtship violence are offered.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this research by Laner was to examine the extent to which victims and perpetrators of courtship violence consider the activities which led to the incident, and the event itself, as violence.
METHODOLOGY:
In the present paper, the author reported results from two of his earlier studies. Both of the studies were quasi-experimental cross-sectional designs with non-probability samples. One sample included 334 college students from all four years, aged 18 to 48, both male and female, in Courtship and Marriage classes. The other involved 216 male and female high school students, aged 13 to 18, who volunteered to participate after receiving parental permission. Both samples came from a southwestern college town, with most subjects being Caucasian, middle class and urban. The studies explored the pleasures and the problems of dating, asking respondents about the best (delights) and worst (discontents) things about dating, and asking participants to indicate one important question (dilemma) that they might have had about dating relationships in general. The author examined the discontent and the dilemma statements for any direct mention of violence, and for responses about the most consistent precipitators of violence, including fighting, jealousy and sexual problems such as unwanted advances, denial of access or infidelity. Analysis involved examination of frequencies.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
Only one college student and two high school students mentioned violence directly in their responses. Whereas studies have shown that 12% of high school students and 20% of college students have experienced some form of violence in their dating relationships, when questioned generally about dating only 0.9% of the high schoolers and 0.3% of the college students reported that violence was one of the worst aspects of dating. Without specific questions regarding violence, this information was withheld. As for precipitators of violence, many more subjects mentioned fighting, jealousy and sexual problems than mentioned actual violence. Among the worst things about dating, jealousy was the primary precipitator, followed by sexual problems and fighting. The primary precipitator for dilemmas was sexual problems. Concern about these problems was higher for high school students and for females in both samples (see following table for discontents and dilemmas for both samples).
Discontents and dilemmas about dating relationships identified
by high school and college students.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
High School College
Girls Boys Women Men
% % % %
Discontents:
Jealousy 14 9 11 8.5
Sexual 17 12.5 8 2
Fighting 8 9 7.5 6
Subtotal 39 30.5 26.5 16.5
Dilemmas:
Sexual 15 8 10 2
Jealousy 1 0 2 5
Fighting 0 3 2 2
Subtotal 16 11 14 9
Total 55% 41.5% 40.5% 25.5%
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The author cautioned that no claim could be made that the precipitators led to actual violence, but she suggested that the frequency of mention was relatively high. Of all the respondents in the two samples, 14% mentioned sexual problems, 8% mentioned jealousy and 7% told of fighting problems - overall, 29% of the sample identified risk markers of violence as either the worst aspect of dating or as a dilemma in the issue of dating relationships.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author suggested a two-pronged approach to the issue of courtship violence for educators, parents and counselors. Firstly, people could be directly questioned about specific violent activities without the label of violence being applied to those behaviors. Secondly, attention could be centered upon the precipitators of violence, as they could be seen as ordinary relationship issues which would therefore be less threatening to discuss. The focus could then be applied to jealousy, sexual problems and fighting. Intervention strategies could include education efforts to reduce feelings within the community and in colleges that violence is a legitimate method of conflict resolution and to teach nonviolent conflict resolution techniques, the creation of shelters and hotlines, and the education of counselors in the identification of people who might be at risk for dating violence. Future research could examine the differences between relationships in which known precipitators either have or do not have a violent outcome.
EVALUATION:
The author presents an insightful examination of some of the issues surrounding the problem of courtship violence. The good sample size and the fairly representative nature of the sample allows for some confidence in generalization, although the reliance upon only three questions as measures of violence and of precipitators of violence suggests that the results provide merely a glimpse of some of the information that might be available. More detailed measures would have been more helpful, as would have a more thorough discussion of the methodology and of the results. Implications of the findings were well addressed. The study can nonetheless provide an important basis for further research and intervention and prevention planning in the area of courtship violence. (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 - Senior High School Student
KW - Juvenile Perceptions
KW - Adult Perceptions
KW - Victim Perceptions
KW - Offender Perceptions
KW - Dating Violence Perceptions
KW - Adult Victim
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Adult Violence
KW - Juvenile Offender
KW - Juvenile Victim
KW - Juvenile Violence
KW - Dating Violence Causes
KW - Dating Violence Offender
KW - Dating Violence Victim
KW - Risk Factors
KW - Partner Violence
KW - Violence Against Women |