NCJ Number
225489
Journal
Journal of Forensic Nursing Volume: 4 Issue: 4 Dated: 2008 Pages: 166-173
Date Published
2008
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This study tests assertions of the social learning theory to examine whether severity of child maltreatment, sibling violence perpetration, and childhood witness to parental violence significantly increases the variance of dating violence perpetration, as well as gender on dating violence perpetration.
Abstract
Study findings present a picture of mutually violent households possibly creating a cumulative effect, increasing the probability of perpetrating dating violence. The findings also indicate that men and women experience and, in turn, perpetrate violence differently. The findings are unique in that women significantly perpetrated more violence in dating relationships than men, yet men were much more likely to engage in dating violence perpetration if they had a prior experience with severe types of violence in the home, such as child maltreatment, sibling violence, and witness to parental violence. Dating violence research has focused mostly on the victim and perpetrator characteristics, detaining prior experience with violence in the home and demographic variables, yet very few researchers have identified the role of severity of violence experienced in the home on later perpetration of dating violence. This study used propositions from the social learning theory to explore the effects of the combined influences of child maltreatment, childhood witness to parental violence, sibling violence, and gender on dating violence perpetration using a modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale 2 (CTS2). The study is a secondary analysis of survey data collected from 538 community college students. Tables and references