The co-occurrence of adolescent boys' and girls' use of psychologically, physically, and sexually abusive behaviours in their dating relationships.
We examined the co-occurrence of and risk factors for adolescent boys' and girls' self-reported use of psychologically, physically, and sexually abusive behaviours in their dating relationships. The participants were 324 boys and 309 girls in grades 7, 9, or 11 who completed surveys at school. Descriptive analyses showed that 19% of boys and 26% of girls reported having used two or more forms of dating violence. One third of students in grade 7 had already used at least one form of aggressive behaviour in this context. Canonical correlation analyses indicated that boys' and girls' use of multiple forms of dating violence were predicted by their attitudes toward and experiences with violence. After controlling for general abusiveness, boys' use of sexually abusive behaviour and girls' use of psychologically abusive behaviour were linked to specific risk factors that suggest an enactment of social scripts associated with their respective gender roles.
Sears
Heather A
HA
Department of Psychology, University of New Brunswick, Bag Service #45444, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada E3B 6E4. hsears@unb.ca <hsears@unb.ca>
Sandra Byers
E
E
Lisa Price
E
E
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008149:Love; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*