Citation

Mahoney JC, Farrell DM, Murphy CM. J. Fam. Violence 2022; 37(1): 151-163.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10896-021-00317-x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Communication technologies, including cell phones, social media, and location tracking services, can be used to perpetrate abuse against current or former intimate partners. A growing literature examines these behaviors in adolescent and college samples, yet very little research has investigated cyber abuse prevalence and risk factors in broader samples of adults. The present study examines whether in-person forms of intimate partner aggression (IPA) and important IPA risk factors are associated with cyber psychological abuse (CPA) in a sample of adults (N = 243; Mean age = 33.49, SD = 11.31) who reported being in a romantic relationship within the last 12 months and were recruited through Amazon's Mechanical Turk. Participants completed assessments of CPA, physical assault, emotional abuse, maltreatment history, attachment insecurity, jealousy, emotion dysregulation, substance abuse, and relationship functioning. The Cyber Psychological Abuse scales significantly and positively correlated with physical assault and emotional abuse. Multivariate risk factor analyses accounted for 40% and 30% of the variance in CPA perpetration and victimization, respectively. Behavioral jealousy, relationship discord, and extent of daily cell phone use had significant unique associations with both CPA perpetration and victimization. The results indicate that CPA is highly prevalent among adults, strongly associated with other forms of IPA, and correlated with both IPA risk factors and extent of technology use.

FINDINGS support the further development of efforts to prevent CPA, to educate potential CPA victims, and to assess and address CPA among adults who engage in or experience in-person forms of partner abuse.

Language: en

Keywords

Cyber abuse; Intimate partner violence; Psychological abuse; Technology