Attitudinal Correlates of Physical and Psychological Aggression Perpetration and Victimization in Dating Relationships

We examined gender-related attitudes as correlates of physical and psychological aggression perpetration and victimization among 325 undergraduate students in dating relationships. It was hypothesized that adversarial sexual beliefs and acceptance of interpersonal violence would be positively correlated with physical and psychological aggression perpetration and victimization in both men and women. Results indicated that adversarial sexual beliefs were consistently associated with relationship aggression, whereas the acceptance of interpersonal violence was not. Specifically, adversarial sexual beliefs were significantly correlated with perpetration of dating aggression in both genders and with experiencing aggression in men. Findings suggest that adversarial sexual beliefs place those in dating relationships at relatively higher risk for problems with aggression.