Paths to intimate relationship aggression: Interplay among individual, social and relationship factors

Dating violence among college aged couples has become a growing concern. Over time, various explanations of dating aggression have been proposed. The current study investigated the interplay among (i) individual factors, such as witnessing violence during childhood, (ii) couple context interaction factors, such as power differential, sexism, dominance within the relationship, (iii) relationship functioning factors from an attachment perspective, and (iv) dating aggression, which was composed of sexual coercion, physical assault, degradation, and psychological abuse. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test model fit to the data. Findings indicated that the proposed model provided a good fit to the with a χ2 to df ratio of 1.84. In particular, the attachment insecurity based relationship dysfunction latent variable, which was created by models of self and others, affect regulation behaviors, and secure base scripts, had a significant direct effect on relationship aggression, controlling for all else in the model. This was observed for both male and female participants. More specifically, both female and male participants who reported higher levels of relationship dysfunction were more likely to be abused by their partner in their relationships. Furthermore, for female participants, experience of parental conflict also had a significant direct effect on the experience of relationship aggression from their partner to their self. Finally, results indicated that social factors in the relationship context, such as need for dominance/control, low value of egalitarianism, and a greater value placed on sexism, had no direct effect on relationship aggression when all else was controlled in the model