Intercultural Latin American research on abuse in couple relationships of young university

Dating or falling in love implies a romantic experience of bonding, commitment and support between the members of a couple within the framework of a socio-cultural context. This kind of relationship contributes to the psychosocial well-being providing people with socio-emotional development. However, in this dating period, many partners deal with situations of violence. The aim of current work was to analyze and to describe the presence, type and level of abuse in dating relationships in four Latin American countries. Method: the target group involved 1195 secondary, high school and university students aged 12 to 30 years from Argentina, Chile, Mexico and Peru. The Questionnaire Dating Abuse (CMN; Osorio-Guzmán, 2014), which contains 5 areas and α = 0.95, was applied. The study met the ethical standards of the American Psychological Association. Results: the proportion of participants was Argentina (22.9%), Chile (25.3%), Mexico (36.9%) and Peru (15%). The reliability of the instrument ranges from .93 to .95. It was found that more than 90% of the cases report low levels of abuse, and 21.5% reported family violence patterns. Conclusions: the naturalization of dating violence is verified, and it is considered essential to work on its denaturalization.

In-person and cyber dating abuse: A longitudinal investigation

While studies have identified associations between cyber and in-person dating abuse, most research has relied on cross-sectional data, limiting the ability to determine temporality. This study tested the longitudinal associations between cyber and physical and psychological forms of in-person dating abuse. Data were from an ongoing longitudinal study following a group of high school students originally recruited in Southeast Texas, US, into their young adulthood. Three waves of data (Waves 4–6) were used, with each wave collected one year apart. At Wave 4, participants’ age ranged from 16 years to 20 years (mean = 18.1, median = 18.0, SD = .78). The analytical sample consisted of 879 adolescents/young adults (59% female, 41% male; 32% Hispanics, 28% Black, 29% White, and 11% other) who completed the dating abuse questions. Cross-lagged panel analysis showed that dating abuse victimization and perpetration were predictive of subsequent dating abuse of the same type. Cyber dating abuse perpetration was found to predict subsequent physical dating abuse perpetration as well as physical dating abuse victimization, but not vice versa. Further, cyber dating abuse perpetration predicted psychological dating abuse victimization, but not vice versa. Cyber dating abuse victimization was not significantly associated with either physical or psychological dating abuse temporally. Overall, findings suggest that cyber dating abuse perpetration may be a risk marker for both physical and psychological forms of in-person dating abuse. Interventions may benefit from targeting cyber dating abuse perpetration as means to prevent in-person dating abuse.

Revenge via social media and relationship contexts: Prevalence and measurement

Social media platforms’ unique characteristics may make them particularly good outlets for getting even with relational partners. Establishing the prevalence of social media revenge and identifying the forms such revenge may take in different relationship contexts is an important first step in broadening our understanding of these behaviors. In a mixed-methods study, undergraduates ( N = 732) and community members ( N = 124) were randomly assigned to one of four relational contexts (coworkers, family, friends, and romantic partners) and asked to describe an act of social media revenge experienced or observed in their assigned context. They then rated how often they were the avenger, target, and observer of five control and monitoring and 11 direct aggression behaviors adapted from the Cyber Dating Abuse Questionnaire. The prevalence of social media revenge across all relationship contexts, roles, and revenge types was low and participants reported observing social media revenge more frequently than being the target or avenger. Social media revenge was also more prevalent in some relationships than others and the type of relationship between avenger and target may have implications for how revenge is executed. Analysis of participants’ accounts identified novel revenge behaviors and suggested ways to improve measurement of social media revenge.

Dating Related Abuse on Girl Students, The Case of Bonga University

The objective of the study is examining dating related abuse on girl students in Bonga University. A mixed research method was used for the data collection and analysis of this study in a sample of 166 regular undergraduate female students. Systematic random and purposive sampling methods were used for data gathering. This research’s result shows that there is a prevalence of dating related abuse with the dominance of emotional abuse. Cultural influence and considering abuse as a sign of love are the major contributing factors and self-esteem is negatively correlated with the three abuse types. Therefore, the researcher concludes; dating abuse can be both a cause and a consequence for low self-esteem and considering abuse as a sign of love which is influenced by society’s culture, has contributed most to its prevalence. Finally, the researcher recommends that attitudes and norms related to gender inequality needs to be challenged and heavy measures should be taken on those who break the law in order to deter others.

Pornography as a US Public Health Problem

Pornography is being indicted as a public health crisis in the United States and elsewhere, but the professional public health community is not behind the recent push to address pornography as a public health threat. While pornography may not be contributing directly to mortality or acute morbidity for a substantial percentage of people, it may be influencing other public health problems, such as sexual violence, dating abuse, compulsive behavior, and sexually transmitted infections. However, the evidence to support pornography as a causal factor is mixed, and there are numerous other factors that have more strongly established associations with these outcomes of interest. Throughout history, repressive forces have inflated the charges against sexually explicit material in order to advance a morality-based agenda. Nevertheless, a public health approach and tried public health practices, such as harm reduction and coalition-building, will be instrumental to addressing the emergence of mainstream Internet pornography.