Adolescent dating violence may lead to adverse health behaviors. We examined associations between sexual teen dating violence victimization (TDVV) and sexual risk behaviors among U.S. high school students using 2013 and 2015 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey data (combined n = 29,346). Sex-stratified logistic regression models were used to estimate these associations among students who had dated or gone out with someone during the past 12 months (n = 20,093). Among these students, 10.5% experienced sexual TDVV. Sexual TDVV was positively associated with sexual intercourse before age 13, four or more lifetime sexual partners, current sexual activity, alcohol or drug use before last sexual intercourse, and no pregnancy prevention during last sexual intercourse. Given significant findings among both sexes, it is valuable for dating violence prevention efforts to target both female and male students.

The Conflict Tactics Scale 2 (CTS2) is one of the most widely used measures for assessing violence between intimate partners. Many studies exploring its psychometric properties show factor structures that vary according to samples, analysis, or scale forms employed. This work aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the CTS2 in 819 undergraduates in Argentina. Some items had to be excluded from the analysis because of their null prevalence in this sample. Confirmatory factor analysis of the original five-factor model for perpetrated and suffered violence CTS2 forms indicated a good fit to the data in both men and women. Internal consistency was good for all subscales except for the perpetrated and suffered sexual coercion and perpetrated injuries subscales. The highest inter-factor correlations were found between the psychological aggression and physical assault subscales in the perpetration models, and between the physical assault and injuries subscales in the victimization models. Practical and theoretical implications of the results are discussed, and future lines of research are proposed.

Rates of sexual violence (SV) and dating violence (DV) are high on college campuses; federal law mandates colleges provide SV/DV prevention programming to incoming students. Programs showing the strongest empirical support are bystander programs; however, their small group format makes it impractical to use them with large student bodies. In a pilot feasibility study, we compared in-person and e-intervention SV/DV bystander intervention programs and randomly assigned 562 students to one of the programs. Students completed measures of knowledge and attitudes at 3 points over 6 months. Both groups changed significantly in the expected direction on all measures, with no differences between groups in change over time. Results suggest that e-interventions may be a viable alternative to in-person SV/DV programs for meeting federal mandates.

Although partner abuse is well established as destructive societal problem, partner abuse among adolescents and young adults has only recently gained attention. Entitlement is a concept regularly evoked in the dating abuse literature. Much of the literature on dating partner abuse focuses on adolescent/young adult victimization, whereas perpetration is less well understood. This study examined sense of entitlement and its relationship to various types of abuse, including economic, emotional, physical, and sexual. Sense of entitlement was positively correlated with all types of abuse and was a better predictor of abusive behaviors than other variables in the regression model. Implications address how, including how assessing and addressing entitlement can enhance both partner abuse prevention and intervention efforts.

Data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationships Study were used to address how specific relationship dynamics, perceived alternatives, social support, and intimate partner violence (IPV) itself influenced breakups among respondents in nonviolent and violent dating relationships (n = 700). Both positive and negative relationship dynamics, perceived alternatives, and messages from significant others predicted whether individuals ended their relationships. In addition, these analyses indicated that violence was not associated with the odds of relationship termination. Among individuals reporting IPV (n = 245), similar factors influenced stay/leave decisions. Finally, the test for a threshold effect of IPV (n = 700) to determine whether higher levels of IPV experience “tipped the scales” and resulted in increased odds of relationship termination demonstrated that greater frequency of relationship violence was not associated with ending the relationship.

The study investigated the prevalence of female-to-male dating violence, mental health symptoms, and violent attitudes among 727 female high school students. Participants completed surveys asking about experiences of dating violence victimization/perpetration, mental health symptoms, and justification of violence. Correlations among female victims of dating violence revealed moderate positive associations between sexual, physical, and psychological violence, and female’s acceptance of male violence toward girls. Multiple regressions found significant predictors of negative mental health consequences, which consisted of experiencing psychological violence and justification of violence. Further analysis revealed that female participants who experienced three types of dating violence (physical, sexual, and psychological) were significantly more likely to perpetrate three types of dating violence (physical, psychological, and sexual). These findings suggest that among teenage girls justification of violence and experiencing dating violence are significant predictors of future negative mental health and violence perpetration.

Psychological aggression is a devastating and prevalent problem in college dating relationships. In fact, most students in dating relationships experience psychological aggression each year. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of research on proximal risk factors for psychological aggression among females specifically. Knowing the conditions under which psychological aggression is most likely to occur will aid researchers and clinicians in developing and implementing more effective prevention programs. The current study descriptively examined proximal factors to psychological aggression perpetration among female undergraduate students (N = 97). Findings showed that most psychological aggression occurred during the period from 5 p.m. to 1 a.m., while participants were alone with their partners, and on the weekend. Participants reported a diverse number of motivations for perpetrating psychological aggression, with a lack of emotion regulation being an especially prominent motivation. Implications of these findings for future research and prevention programming are discussed.

This study examined gender differences in impacts of dating violence (specifically minor and severe physical injury, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], problems with alcohol, self-esteem, and relationship satisfaction) using a sample of 305 male and 363 female undergraduate students. Multiple linear regression models were used to test for the effects of dating violence victimization on the eight outcome variables while controlling for the effects of perpetration and psychological victimization. Results indicated that physical violence victimization did not impact problems with alcohol, self-esteem, or relationship satisfaction for either males or females. However, being a victim of minor violence significantly increased the levels of depression, anxiety, and PTSD and being a victim of severe violence significantly increased minor and severe injury. Different gender effects were seen in anxiety and PTSD scores where male victims scored higher than male nonvictims, but female victims did not differ significantly from female nonvictims and in minor and severe injury where both male and female victims scored higher than nonvictims, but the difference between the two groups was greater for men on the severe injury subscale and greater for women on the minor injury subscale. Overall, results of our analyses indicate that both male and female victims of dating violence experience physical and mental health consequences and, on the whole, do not support previous findings that would suggest that female victims suffer a greater impact than male victims do.

There has been limited prospective investigation of correlates of persistent (repeated within and across relationships) physical intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization compared to episodic (not repeated within or across relationships) IPV in young adulthood. The primary aim of the current study was to examine prior victimization, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, psychological IPV (emotional abuse and threats), and remaining with the same partner, as unique correlates of persistent physical IPV during a 6-month period. Female undergraduates who completed baseline and follow-up assessments (n = 254) were classified into victimization groups according to their self-report of physical IPV: no physical IPV (65.0%), persistent IPV (at baseline and follow-up [11.0%]), and episodic IPV (at follow-up [9.8%] or baseline only [14.2%]). Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that the number of prior victimizations, PTSD hyperarousal symptoms, psychological IPV at baseline, and remaining with the same partner at follow-up significantly discriminated the IPV groups. The likelihood of membership in the persistent physical IPV group was associated with all variables. Episodic physical IPV at baseline only was associated with fewer childhood victimizations and being in a new relationship at follow-up. Results highlight assessment and intervention approaches that may assist females experiencing both persistent and episodic physical IPV.

Violence between dating couples is a serious and prevalent problem among college students (Shorey, Cornelius, & Bell, 2008). Social-cognitive theories of aggression (e.g., Berkowitz, 1990) propose that perpetrators may have more maladaptive cognitive schemas that increase risk for aggression than non-perpetrators. Thus, this study examined differences between perpetrators and non-perpetrators of dating violence on early maladaptive schemas, which are rigidly held cognitive and behavioral patterns that guide how individuals encode and respond to stimuli in their environments (Young, Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003). Within a sample of female (n = 242) and male (n = 193) college students, results demonstrated that many early maladaptive schema domains were associated with psychological and physical dating violence perpetration, although mostly for women. In addition, the schema domain of impaired autonomy showed medium-to-large differences between female perpetrators and non-perpetrators, whereas the domain of impaired limits showed a medium-to-large difference for male perpetrators and non-perpetrators of physical aggression. These findings add to a growing body of literature on risk factors for dating violence, suggesting that early maladaptive schemas may be associated with individual differences in aggression risk. The results also further support social-cognitive models of aggressive behavior.