Adolescent Girls' and Boys' Experiences of Psychologically, Physically, and Sexually Aggressive Behaviors in Their Dating Relationships: Co-Occurrence and Emotional Reaction

Abstract

We examined the co-occurrence of and adolescents' emotional reaction to self-reported experiences of psychologically, physically, and sexually aggressive behaviors in their dating relationships. Participants were 317 boys and 310 girls (Grades 7, 9, or 11). The most common co-occurrence pattern was experiencing all three forms of dating violence. More girls than boys were upset by their worst nonsexual and sexual dating violence experiences. Discriminant function analyses indicated that individual and environmental characteristics were associated with girls' and with boys' upset reaction to experiences of nonsexual and sexual dating violence; a group of girls and a group of boys who were not upset by their experience were also differentiated. To better understand adolescents' experiences of dating violence, we must take into account that many youths experience multiple forms of aggressive behavior and assess their emotional reaction to their experiences.