Dating Violence: The Primacy of Previous Experience

Abstract

Data concerning dating violence were collected from 410 university and college students. Descriptive information on the rate and type of such violence was examined along with information on the gender of individuals involved. The relative contributions of five sets of factors to the occurrence of dating violence were investigated: past experiences with violence, attitudes, personality factors, the nature of the relationship, and socioeconomic status. The results indicate that 47 percent of the respondents had some experience with violence in a dating relationship. The majority of these experiences were reciprocal in nature with both partners violent at some time. When the violence was not reciprocal, males were three times as likely to report victim-only experiences than were females. Multiple regression analysis showed violent experiences in previous relationships to be the main predictor of violent experiences in current relationships.