NCJ Number
209708
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 17 Issue: 6 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 630-646
Date Published
June 2002
Length
17 pages
Annotation
This study evaluated the association between witnessing interparental violence as a child, being a victim of parental physical violence, and perpetrating violence in dating relationships.
Abstract
To advance the prevention of intimate partner violence, identifying those men at risk to become abusers at an earlier point in their lives would be most beneficial. This study proposed extending a developmental model to the study of intimate partner physical violence. The study hypothesized that the early risk factors of family of origin violence, combined with attitudes associated with negative masculinity, would predict perpetration of sexual and physical dating violence in college men. The study measured empirically supported risk factors for dating violence in 99 college men from a large Midwestern university that included child abuse, violence between parents, and hostile beliefs and attitudes toward women. Study findings indicate that similar rates of family of origin violence and physical dating violence are reported in the literature. Witnessing interparental violence predicted the perpetration of physical dating violence, but not sexual aggression. In addition, the study findings support previous research that witnessing interparental violence has a detrimental effect and may lead to violent perpetration as an adult. References