title: Courtship violence using couple data: characteristics and perceptions.
abstract: This study examined courtship violence using couple data. Participants were 50 heterosexual dating couples with at least one member of the couple being a university student. Using the Conflict Tactics Scales 2 (CTS2), both members of a couple reported on received and inflicted physical and psychological violence. The prevalence of physical aggression depended on how violence was defined. On the CTS2, 60% of couples were considered physically violent when within-couple agreement was not considered; this dropped to as low as 28% when agreement had to be present. Women were more likely than men to report inflicting psychological aggression and to report aggressing against their partner with a playful intent. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the need to continue to examine courtship violence, especially by utilizing responses from both members of a couple.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Middle Tennessee State University, 37132, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Perry
authors.forename: Mary Ellen
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Fromuth
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D003380:Courtship; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology