U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government, Department of Justice.

NCJRS Virtual Library

The Virtual Library houses over 235,000 criminal justice resources, including all known OJP works.
Click here to search the NCJRS Virtual Library

Dating Violence: Student Beliefs About Consequences

NCJ Number
161881
Journal
Journal of Interpersonal Violence Volume: 11 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1996) Pages: 3-18
Author(s)
B E Carlson
Date Published
1996
Length
16 pages
Annotation
This study analyzes the views of 298 undergraduate and graduate students concerning: (1) what constitutes violence and abuse in a dating relationship; (2) the impact of violence on a dating relationship; and (3) what the parties involved should do, if anything, following a violent incident.
Abstract
After reading 15 vignettes, respondents were asked to rate how violent and abusive a depicted incident was, what they thought was likely to happen to the relationship in the future, and what should happen following the incident. The depicted incidents varied along eight dimensions: (1) nature of the act; (2) consequences; (3) gender of perpetrator; (4) gender of victim; (5) extent of relationship; (6) alcohol consumption; (7) extent of provocation; and (8) history of violence. Personal experiences with violence were also assessed. Beliefs about what was likely to happen to the relationship and what should happen were influenced by both vignette characteristics (nature of the act, gender of perpetrator, and outcome) and perceived violence and abusiveness, as well as respondent characteristics. Tables, references