Influence of Individual and Partner Characteristics on the Perpetration of Intimate Partner Violence in Young Adult Relationships

• NCJ Number: 222125
• Journal: Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2008 Pages: 284-296
• Author(s): Veronica M. Herrera; Jacquelyn D. Wiersma; H. Harrington Cleveland
• Date Published: March 2008
• Length: 13 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This study examined individual and partner characteristics associated with the perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) in young adult relationships with opposite sex partners.

Abstract

Results indicate that young women are more likely than young men to report using physical aggression against their intimate partners; up to 24 percent of males and 37 percent of females reported IPV perpetration. Approximately 33 percent of the young women and 20 percent of the young men reported perpetrating physical aggression against our current partner. Significantly fewer women reported engaging in general violence (13 percent) as compared to men (37 percent). These findings are consistent with reports of female crime and delinquency that show that females, in comparison to males, commit fewer crimes and are less likely to be involved in serious or violent crime, with the exception of IPV. This suggests that female IPV perpetration may be more than a manifestation of a general violence predisposition. Having both general violent tendencies and being a target of violence in a relationship influenced one's likelihood of young adults perpetrating IPV. Young women's greatest expression of violent tendencies emerged when in relationships with young violent men; yet, when partnered with nonviolent man, young women's own violent tendencies did not lead to IPV. Little evidence for the interactive effect for young men in the study existed. The lack of a significant interaction in the model indicated that young men's general aggression was not conditioned on their partner’s use of physical aggression in the relationships. Data were collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative school-based, longitudinal study of health-related behaviors of adolescents and their outcomes in young adulthood. Questionnaires were collected from more than 90,000 adolescents from 134 schools. Tables, references