Social Information Processing in Dating Conflicts: Reciprocal Relationships With Dating Aggression in a One-Year Prospective Study

Considering context: Current relationship satisfaction in a second-generation model of men's physical intimate partner violence

Despite a half-century of scholarship devoted to explicating and disrupting the intergenerational transmission of family violence, it remains a prominent and destructive social force in the United States. Theoretical models have posited a variety of historical and concurrent risk and protective factors implicated in the trajectory from childhood violence exposure to adult perpetration. Using a second-generation model of intimate partner violence (IPV), we integrated social learning and attachment conceptualizations to examine pathways from family-of-origin violence to IPV perpetration among adult men. A sample of mixed-sex couples (N = 233) completed self-report measures related to social learning and attachment-based factors (e.g., violence in past relationships, child exposure, IPV attitudes, adult attachment) and participated in a 10-min conversation about a desired area for change in their relationship. Following, each partner participated in a video-mediated-recall procedure assessing their anger volatility and eliciting attributions of their partners' behavior. We tested mediation pathways (consistent with social learning and attachment theories) between violence in men's families of origin and their adult IPV perpetration as a function of relationship satisfaction. The proposed model fit the data well (CFI = 0.95) but had notable modifications from the hypothesized model. Generally, social-learning pathways were more consistent with the data. Relationship satisfaction interacted with some parameters. Results support theoretical advances in understanding IPV. Although exposure to violence in men's family of origin confers risk for later IPV, and a social learning developmental pathway is consistent with results, some of these effects are altered by relationship context.

Validation of a new assessment of hostile attribution bias in romantic relationships: The Hostile Attributions in Romantic Relationships Test

While hostile attributional bias (a tendency to interpret others' behaviors as intentionally hostile) is associated with negative outcomes in romantic relationships, no measure has been developed specifically for this context. Here, we describe the development and validation of a self-report questionnaire across three studies, named Hostile Attribution in Romantic Relationships Test. Study 1 introduces the development and preliminary validation (N = 152). Study 2 tests the validity and test-retest stability of the modified version revised based on findings in Study 1 (N = 151). Study 3 reports the translation and validation of a Chinese version (N = 630). The final 9-vignette scale is the first to specifically measure hostile attribution bias in romantic relationships, with good internal reliability, test-retest stability, and convergent validity. Factor analysis reveals a three-factor structure reflecting direct hostile attribution, indirect hostile attribution, and benign attribution to partners' behaviors. Implications regarding couple dynamics and clinical therapeutic interventions are discussed.

Control Violence Begins in Adolescent Dating: A Research from Students’ Perception

The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence of controlling violence experienced by adolescents in the Region of Murcia, as well as to analyze the patterns and sociodemographic variables involved such as sex, age, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, and country of origin of the families with the consequent cultural background provided. Using a sample of 454 secondary and high school students who completed a survey, the results revealed that 29.96% of the respondents were perpetrators (exerted violence) and 35.68% were victims of at least one dating abuse behavior. Significant differences were found in the occurrence of abuse based on family background, age, and religion. Finally, the results revealed that there were no significant differences in the victimization or perpetration of violence in relation to sex, but the older the victim, the less control exercised in cybernetic media, and the greater the control of the other in relation to family origin, where those from Latin American and African countries showed a greater propensity to control their partners than those of Spanish origin.

A Social-Cognitive Investigation of Young Adults Who Abuse Their Parents

Within the past decade, there has been an increase in research focusing on young people who abuse their parents. However, most research has narrowly focused on adolescent children, neglecting to investigate the nature, pattern, and factors related to child-to-parent abuse perpetrated by young adults. This article integrated two complementary social-cognitive theories of aggression to explore factors associated with perpetration of child-to-parent abuse among university students (N = 435, aged 18-25 years). Participants completed the Abusive Behavior by Children-Indices, a self-report measure that was designed to differentiate abusive and normative child-to-parent behavior. The results highlight that abuse is not limited to adolescent children, as one in seven young adults were categorized as abusive toward a parent over the previous 12 months. Sons were more likely than daughters to report abusing their parents. Specifically, sons disclosed greater rates of father abuse than daughters, but similar rates of mother abuse. Hierarchical logistic regression found that exposure to marital violence, parent-to-child aggression, trait anger, and aggressive scripts were significant predictors of both mother and father abuse. However, other factors related to abuse differed according to which parent was the target of abuse. For instance, male sex was a significant predictor of father abuse, whereas rumination and impulsive emotional regulation were significant predictors of mother abuse. Overall, father abuse was better explained by the model than mother abuse. The results suggest that although factors related to general aggressive behavior may be good predictors for father abuse, additional factors may be needed to explain mother abuse.

Prevalence of teen dating violence in Europe: A systematic review of studies since 2010

Violence in adolescent relationships is a common problem with numerous negative short- and long-term consequences. Because most of the evidence on teen dating violence (TDV) synthesized in reviews comes from North American studies, this review aimed to compile evidence on prevalence rates of TDV based on studies identified for Europe only. Specifically, we considered different forms of TDV victimization and perpetration, gender differences, and its measurement. A systematic literature search of the most popular databases Ebsco and PubMed yielded a total of N = 34 studies, with most of the studies identified for Spain, and only a few studies in other European countries. In sum, the results revealed a great variability in prevalence rates across and within the European countries, a common pattern of gender differences, and a wide range of applied measures, corresponding with the evidence from the North American studies. Implications for future research and policy were discussed.

The prevalence and severity of teen dating violence victimization in community and at-risk adolescents in Spain

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and severity of teen dating violence victimization in Spanish adolescents from both community and at-risk samples. The sample comprised 1,105 community adolescents from secondary schools, 149 adolescents from child, and adolescent mental health centers, 129 from residential care centers associated with the child welfare system, and 101 from centers in the juvenile justice system. The participants, aged between 14 and 17 years, were interviewed using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. The lifetime prevalence of victimization in dating relationships ranged from 2.5% to 33.7%. The prevalence of physical victimization was slightly higher in boys, while sexual and electronic victimization and injuries were more prevalent in girls. In conclusion, teen dating violence is a prevalent problem in Spain that needs to be addressed to prevent adolescents from developing risk behaviors and to avoid adverse consequences on mental health, especially in at-risk adolescents.

Early Maladaptive Schemas and Social Information Processing in Child-to-Parent Aggression

The purpose of this longitudinal study was to assess the relationship between early maladaptive schemas (EMSs) and child-to-parent aggression (CPA) and to test whether social information processing (SIP) mediates this association. A total of 903 adolescents (50.9% girls) completed measures of EMSs at Time 1, SIP at Time 1 and Time 2 (1 year later), and CPA at Time 1, Time 2, and Time 3 (2 years later) to determine whether SIP measured at Time 2 mediated between the EMSs measured at Time 1 and CPA measured at Time 3. The results showed that each schema evaluated in this study had a different effect on SIP components and CPA. The SIP components of anger and aggressive response access in turn predicted CPA, mediating the relationship between two EMSs and CPA. More specifically, the schemas of defectiveness and the justification of violence predicted the response access component of SIP, which in turn predicted CPA. The results also showed bidirectional relationships between SIP components and CPA; whereas SIP components predicted CPA, the latter also predicted a worsening in SIP, perpetuating the problem. Furthermore, several gender differences were found in these paths. The findings indicate that intervention in the social-cognitive mechanisms is important to reduce adolescents' aggression directed toward their parents.

Effect of Implicit Prejudice on Intergroup Conflict: The Cognitive Processing Bias Perspective

Principles of intergroup conflict are a core issue in social psychology fields. Studies have found that social prejudice has a significant correlation with intergroup conflict, apart from the personal characteristics and the contextual factors. However, none of those studies concentrated on the triggering role of the prejudice to the social phenomena in Eastern culture. Accordingly, the dependent variable detection paradigms used in three experiments were the Emotional Stroop Task, the Lexical Decision Task (LDT), and the Story Completion Protocol (SCP), the present research took the patient-physician conflict in domestic China as the example to detect the effect of social prejudice on the attention selective bias, memory accessibility, and the explanation of attribution bias of the aggressive information processing during the triggering of patient-physician intergroup conflict. The result showed that there was social patient-physician prejudice dissociation, which means that implicit patient-physician prejudice was observed but explicit social prejudice was not. In addition, the implicit patient-physician prejudice priming had a significant effect on patients' reaction times of Emotional Stroop task and SCP, but no effect of LDT. It indicated that the implicit prejudice did not improve memory accessibility in the later stages of information processing, but rather triggered selective attention bias and hostile attribution bias in preceding stages. Such a conclusion supported the Interpretation-First Model of aggressive information processing.

Perpetration of Dating Violence Among Belgian Youth: Impulsivity, Verbal Skills, and Empathy as Risk and Protective Factors?

Dating violence (DV) is a serious social problem among adolescents and emerging adults, both boys and girls are victims and perpetrators. The current study aimed to investigate correlates of DV perpetration among Belgian youths. We examined facets of empathy and verbal skills as protective factors, and facets of impulsivity as risk factors for psychological and physical DV perpetration. Eight hundred and thirteen adolescents and emerging adults (71.7% females, mean age = 18.9) completed self-administered questionnaires investigating their physical and psychological DV perpetration, empathy, verbal skills, and impulsivity. Findings show that male and female respondents have different patterns of correlations between the studied variables. Facets of empathy and verbal skills hinder DV perpetration, whereas facets of impulsivity foster it. The impact of the different facets can vary across regression models, gender of the perpetrator, and forms of DV. The present study contributes to a better understanding of DV by examining facets of empathy, verbal skills, and impulsivity. Prevention programs are encouraged to target specific facets of these variables among adolescents and emerging adults.

The Role of Acceptance of Violence Beliefs and Social Information Processing on Dating Violence Perpetration

This study's main objective was to explore whether beliefs legitimizing dating violence predict dysfunctional social information processing (SIP) when adolescents deal with ambiguous dating situations, and whether this more proximal cognitive processing acts as a mediator between acceptance of violence beliefs and dating violence perpetration. Participants were 855 high school students who completed self-report measures at three time points, with a 1-year interval between them. SIP did not act as a mediator, but the emergence of anger emotions in dating conflict situations, along with aggression-justifying beliefs, were revealed as essential in explaining dating violence. Previous aggression also explained a subsequent higher anticipation of positive consequences for aggressive acts. We discuss the implications for prevention and treatment strategies with adolescents.

Causes and consequences of adolescent dating violence: a systematic review

Background:

Adolescent dating violence (ADV) is highly prevalent and can have serious health consequences, including homicides, and be a predictor of intimate partner violence in adulthood. This review aims to systematize the knowledge produced in recent empirical investigations in health that focus on the causes and consequences of ADV to subsidize new research and prevention programs.

Methods:

Review of studies published in PubMed over the last five years through MeSH Database: “Intimate Partner Violence” AND “Adolescent” NOT “prevention and control” NOT “Adult”.

Results:

We analyzed 35 papers, of which 71.4% were developed in the USA. Some studies have shown prevalence greater than 50% in both genders, both as victims and perpetrators, with more serious consequences for females. Three main thematic cores were identified in the studies: ADV-related vulnerabilities, circularity of violence and ADV-associated health problems. Data indicate that ADV is deep-seated in the patriarchal culture and is more frequent in connection with racism, heterosexism and poverty. It occurs in a circular way and is linked to other forms of violence in different contexts (family, school, community and social media). It is associated with health problems such as depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, alcohol and drugs abuse and unprotected sex.

Conclusions:

The knowledge produced in the studies reviewed reveals the urgency and importance of implementing early preventive actions in schools, involving families and the community. These should focus on the deconstruction of current cultural gender patterns, based on their historical origin, in order to support emancipatory and liberating pedagogical approaches.

Romantic Attachment, Conflict Resolution Styles, and Teen Dating Violence Victimization

Although research on dating violence has increased in the last decades, little is known about the role of romantic attachment and conflict resolution in understanding victimization by an intimate partner among adolescents. This study examined the relationships between insecure attachment styles, destructive conflict resolution strategies, self-reported and perceived in the partner, and psychological and physical victimization by a dating partner in 1298 adolescents (49% girls). Anxious attachment was related to both forms of victimization via self-reported conflict engagement and conflict engagement attributed to the partner among boys and girls. Moreover, both insecure attachment styles were also indirectly linked to victimization via self-reported withdrawal and conflict engagement perceived in the partner, but only among boys. The implications of the findings for promoting constructive communication patterns among adolescents for handling their relationship conflicts are discussed.

Developmental Outcomes of Using Physical Violence Against Dates and Peers

PURPOSE

The negative impact on adolescents of being a victim of violence is well documented, but the impact of being a perpetrator of violence is less well known. Knowing the negative outcomes of being a perpetrator could inform clinical interactions with adolescents, development of violence prevention strategies, and estimates of the societal burden of violence. This longitudinal study examined the effects of physical dating violence (DV) and peer violence (PV) perpetration on internalizing symptoms, relationships with friends and family, academic aspirations and grades, and substance use.

METHODS

The four-wave longitudinal study (N = 3,979), conducted in two North Carolina counties over 2½ years, spanned grades 8-12. Generalized linear mixed models were used to examine prospective lagged effects of each type of violence perpetration on each outcome and sex and grade as moderators of effects.

RESULTS

Perpetrating DV significantly predicted lower college aspirations and greater likelihood of marijuana use. The effect of DV perpetration on increased family conflict was moderated by school grade; the effect decreased in significance across grades. Perpetrating PV significantly predicted greater likelihood of cigarette and marijuana use. The effects of PV perpetration on increased internalizing symptoms and alcohol intensity and decreased college aspirations were moderated by school grade; effects decreased in significance across grades. Neither type of perpetration predicted changes in number of reciprocated friendships, social status, or academic grades, and no effects varied by sex.

CONCLUSIONS

These detrimental outcomes for the perpetrator need to be considered in clinical interactions with adolescents and violence prevention programming.

Shared Risk Factors for the Perpetration of Physical Dating Violence, Bullying, and Sexual Harassment Among Adolescents Exposed to Domestic Violence

The high risk of perpetrating physical dating violence, bullying, and sexual harassment by adolescents exposed to domestic violence points to the need for programs to prevent these types of aggression among this group. This study of adolescents exposed to domestic violence examined whether these forms of aggression share risk factors that could be targeted for change in single programs designed to prevent all three types of aggression. Analyses were conducted on 399 mother victims of domestic violence and their adolescents, recruited through community advertising. The adolescents ranged in age from 12 to 16 years; 64 % were female. Generalized estimating equations was used to control for the covariation among the aggression types when testing for shared risk factors. Approximately 70 % of the adolescents reported perpetrating at least one of the three forms of aggression. In models examining one risk factor at a time, but controlling for demographics, adolescent acceptance of sexual violence, mother-adolescent discord, family conflict, low maternal monitoring, low mother-adolescent closeness, low family cohesion, depressed affect, feelings of anger, and anger reactivity were shared across all three aggression types. In multivariable models, which included all of the risk factors examined and the demographic variables, low maternal monitoring, depressed affect and anger reactivity remained significant shared risk factors. Our findings suggest that programs targeting these risk factors for change have the potential to prevent all three forms of aggression. In multivariable models, poor conflict management skills was a risk for bullying and sexual harassment, but not dating violence; acceptance of dating violence was a risk for dating violence and bullying, but not sexual harassment; and none of the examined risk factors were unique to aggression type. The study's implications for the development of interventions and future research are discussed.