The relationship between community violence and dating violence in urban adolescents

This study examines dating violence in an urban, ethnically and racially diverse sample of 134 adolescents to determine the relationship among community violence, attitudes toward dating violence, and dating violence. Findings reveal that adolescents in this sample experience a high level of dating and community violence regardless of gender. Community violence predicts physical and psychological dating violence for males and physical dating violence for females. In addition, attitudes toward dating violence predict dating violence for both genders. Specifically, males and females justify physical dating violence under conditions of self defense and humiliation. For males, self defense and humiliation predict psychological dating violence. Results indicate support for using gender specific models to study dating violence. Implications of this study and suggestions for interventions are addressed