The Perceived Quality of Parent-Child Relationships and Dating Violence Experiences Among a Predominantly Heterosexual, Female, and Hispanic-Identified Sample of Emerging Adults

Dating violence has been identified as a serious public health problem among adolescents and emerging adults. Recently, there has been an increase in research focused on identifying risk and protective factors for dating violence across the individual-, relationship-, community-, and societal-levels, yet studies exploring associations between parent-child relationships and dating violence have been lacking. The present study examined the associations between the perceived quality of mother-child relationships and father-child relationships and dating violence victimization and perpetration experiences among a sample of emerging adults. A cross-sectional sample of 454 undergraduate men and women from three universities were assessed at one time point via an online survey that employed empirically valid and reliable measures of parent-child relationship quality and past year dating violence experiences. Structural equation modeling was used to explore the relationship between these variables and included gender, country of birth, and sexual orientation as covariates in the models. Results indicated that individuals who reported higher quality relationships with their mothers and fathers had fewer victimization and perpetration experiences. There were significant differences on dating violence perpetration experiences by gender, with women reporting higher means for psychological aggression only. Individuals born in the USA reported higher victimization and perpetration experiences, specifically psychological aggression and physical assault, than those who identified as foreign-born. Similar trends were found for those who identified with a sexual orientation other than heterosexual. Differences in dating violence experiences between subgroups are explained in detail. Limitations as well as implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed