Dating Violence: Comparing Victims Who Are Also Perpetrators With Victims Who Are Not

• NCJ Number: 218131
• Journal: Journal of Forensic Nursing Volume: 3 Issue: 1 Dated: Spring 2007 Pages: 35-41
• Author(s): Angela Frederick Amar
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 7 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined the reasons women gave for perpetrating dating violence, compared the mental health scares of daring-violence victims who were also perpetrators with the victims who were not perpetrators, and determined the injury rates of women who used violence against dating partners compared with those who did not.

Abstract

White victims were significantly less likely to report perpetrating dating violence than Black women. This finding is consistent with previous research. Further research is required in order to clarify the interactions among victimization, perpetration of violence, and mental health symptoms. Treatment providers should determine whether victims of intimate partner violence are perpetrators as well, since this study indicates this to be a factor in the severity of physical injuries and mental health problems. The most frequently mentioned reasons women gave for using violence against male partners were retaliation and self-defense. Victims who were also perpetrators of violence had higher mental health scores than victims who did not engage in violence against their partners. Victims who were also perpetrators of violence reported more injury than those victims who were not also perpetrators. Snow's research (2002) suggests that women in mutually violent relationships had lower mental health scores than those women who were either victims or aggressors in the relationship. Such a mental health benefit of mutually violent relationships was not supported in this study. The study involved a convenience sample of 411 female college students. Selection criteria required that the women must have dated a man within the past year, be currently dating, or have a boyfriend. Participants were administered a battery of tests that measured violence (physical, sexual, or psychological) in dating relationships (victims and/or perpetrator), mental health symptoms, and injuries from dating violence. 1 table and 35 references