Importance of gender and attitudes about violence in the relationship between exposure to interparental violence and the perpetration of teen dating violence

• Published in: Child abuse & neglect 2013-05, Vol.37 (5), p.343-352
• Main Authors: Temple, Jeff R, Shorey, Ryan C, Tortolero, Susan R, Wolfe, David A, Stuart, Gregory L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adolescent Attitudes; Adolescent Behavior - psychology; Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Antisocial Behavior; Attitude; Biological and medical sciences; Correlation; Correlation analysis; Courtship; Crime Victims - psychology; Dating (Social); Domestic violence; Evidence; Family Conflict - psychology; Family environment. Family history; Family Violence; Fathers; Female; Gender; Gender Differences; Humans; Interparental violence; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Medical sciences; Mothers; Multiculturalism & pluralism; Parent-Child Relations; Pediatrics; Prevention; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency; Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry; Structural Equation Models; Teen dating violence; Teenagers; Violence; Violence - psychology; Violence - statistics & numerical data; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0145-2134; 1873-7757
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2013.02.001

Abstract Objective Mounting evidence has demonstrated a link between exposure to family of origin violence and the perpetration of teen dating violence (TDV). However, only recently have mechanisms underlying this relationship been investigated and very few studies have differentiated between exposure to father-to-mother and mother-to-father violence. Methods The current study used structural equation modeling on a large ethnically diverse school-based sample of male and female adolescents ( n = 917) to address these gaps in the literature. Results For adolescent girls, there was an association between exposure to interparental violence (father-to-mother and mother-to-father) and TDV perpetration (physical violence and psychological abuse). For adolescent boys, only an association between mother-to-father violence was related to their TDV perpetration. Further, for both girls and boys, the relationship between mother-to-father violence and perpetration of TDV was fully mediated by attitudes accepting of violence. Conclusion These results suggest that attending to gender and targeting adolescents’ attitudes about violence may be viable approaches to preventing TDV.