A Gender Comparison of Motivations for Physical Dating Violence Among College Students

There are limited empirical investigations that directly compare men and women’s motivations, or reasons, for perpetrating physical dating violence (DV). In an attempt to further understand whether men and women have similar or different motives for physical DV, the purpose of the current study was...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of interpersonal violence 2016-01, Vol.31 (1), p.186-203
Main Authors: Elmquist, JoAnna, Wolford-Clevenger, Caitlin, Zapor, Heather, Febres, Jeniimarie, Shorey, Ryan C., Hamel, John, Stuart, Gregory L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Anger
College students
Communication
Communication Skills
Courtship
Dating
Female
Gender differences
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Intimate partner violence
Intimate Partner Violence - psychology
Intimate Partner Violence - statistics & numerical data
Jealousy
Male
Motivation
Personal relationships
Physical Abuse - psychology
Physical Abuse - statistics & numerical data
Power
Sex crimes
Sexes
Students - psychology
Universities
Violence
Young Adult
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Summary:There are limited empirical investigations that directly compare men and women’s motivations, or reasons, for perpetrating physical dating violence (DV). In an attempt to further understand whether men and women have similar or different motives for physical DV, the purpose of the current study was to conduct a gender comparison of motives in a sample of male (n = 163) and female (n = 319) college students. Motivations for physical DV were classified according to seven broad categories proposed by Langhinrichsen-Rohling and colleagues: (a) power/control, (b) self-defense, (c) expression of negative emotion (e.g., anger), (d) communication difficulties, (e) retaliation, (f) jealousy, and (g) other (e.g., because it was sexually arousing, the influence of alcohol, the influence of drugs). The prevalence of physical violence perpetration in the overall sample was 29.4%. Results indicated that communication difficulties and self-defense were among the most frequently endorsed motive categories for both male and female perpetrated DV. In addition, results demonstrated gender similarity in all of the examined motive categories. Research and clinical implications are discussed.
ISSN:0886-2605
1552-6518
DOI:10.1177/0886260514555130