Trajectories of Dating Violence: Differences by Sexual Minority Status & Gender

The purpose of this study was to examine how sexual minority status (as assessed using both identity and behavior) was associated with trajectories of dating violence. 

University students from a large Southwestern university completed questions on their sexual minority identity, the gender of their sexual partners, and about experiences of dating violence for six consecutive semesters (N = 1942). Latent growth curve modeling indicated that generally, trajectories of dating violence were stable across study participation. 

Sexual minority identity was associated with higher initial levels of dating violence at baseline, but also with greater decreases in dating violence across time. These differences were mediated by number of sexual partners. Having same and other-sex sexual partners was associated with higher levels of dating violence at baseline, and persisted in being associated with higher levels over time. 

No significant gender difference was observed regarding trajectories of dating violence.

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By:  Martin-Storey A1, Fromme K2.

• 1Département de Psychoéducation, Université de Sherbrooke, Pavillon A7, 2500 Boul. De L'Université, Sherbrooke, Quebec J1K 2R1, Canada. Electronic address: alexa.martin@gmail.com.
• 2Department of Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 108 E Dean Keeton Stop A8000, Austin, TX 87812-1043, USA. 
• J Adolesc. 2016 Mar 16;49:28-37. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2016.02.008.

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An Evaluation of Two Dating Violence Prevention Programs on a College Campus

Dating violence is a serious and prevalent public health problem that is associated with numerous negative physical and psychological health outcomes, and yet there has been limited evaluation of prevention programs on college campuses. A recent innovation in campus prevention focuses on mobilizing bystanders to take action. To date, bystander programs have mainly been compared with no treatment control groups raising questions about what value is added to dating violence prevention by focusing on bystanders. 

This study compared a single 90-min bystander education program for dating violence prevention with a traditional awareness education program, as well as with a no education control group. Using a quasi-experimental pre-test/post-test design with follow-up at 2 months, a sample of predominately freshmen college students was randomized to either the bystander (n = 369) or traditional awareness (n = 376) dating violence education program. A non-randomized control group of freshmen students who did not receive any education were also surveyed (n = 224). Students completed measures of attitudes, including rape myth acceptance, bystander efficacy, and intent to help as well as behavioral measures related to bystander action and victimization. 

Results showed that the bystander education program was more effective at changing attitudes, beliefs, efficacy, intentions, and self-reported behaviors compared with the traditional awareness education program. Both programs were significantly more effective than no education. 

The findings of this study have important implications for future dating violence prevention educational programming, emphasizing the value of bystander education programs for primary dating violence prevention among college students.

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By:  Peterson K1, Sharps P2, Banyard V3, Powers RA4, Kaukinen C5, Gross D2, Decker MR2, Baatz C6, Campbell J2.

• 1University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA kpeters2@uccs.edu.
• 2Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
• 3University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA.
• 4University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA.
• 5University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA.
• 6University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, CO, USA. 
• J Interpers Violence. 2016 Mar 13. pii: 0886260516636069.

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Family Structure, Maternal Dating, and Sexual Debut: Extending the Conceptualization of Instability

Family structure influences the risk of early onset of sexual intercourse. This study proposes that the family structures associated with risk-single-mother, step-parent, and cohabiting-influence early sexual debut due to family instability, including shifts in family structure and maternal dating, which can undermine parental control and transmit messages about the acceptability of nonmarital sex. 

Previous research has not considered maternal dating as a component of family instability, assuming single mothers who date and those who do not date experience comparable levels of family disruption and transmit similar messages about the acceptability of nonmarital sex. 

Hypotheses are assessed using logistic regression models predicting the odds of early onset of sexual intercourse among 9959 respondents (53 % female, 47 % male) from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Respondents were ages 12-17 at the first wave of data collection and 18-26 at the third wave, when respondents reported the age at which they first had sexual intercourse. 

Results show that maternal dating is a source of family instability with repercussions for early sexual debut. Parental control and permissive attitudes towards teenage sex and pregnancy link at-risk family structures and maternal dating to early sexual initiation among females, though these variables do not fully explain family structure and maternal dating effects. Among males, the influence of maternal dating on early sexual debut is fully explained by the learning of permissive sexual attitudes.

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By:  Zito RC1, De Coster S2.

• 1Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Elon University, 2035 Campus Box, Elon, NC, 27244, USA. rzito@elon.edu.
• 2Department of Sociology and Anthropology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA. 
• J Youth Adolesc. 2016 Mar 7. 

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Attitude of Saudi Arabian Adults Towards Consanguineous Marriage

Background: 

Research on the attitudes of Saudi adults towards consanguinity is scarce. The study aimed to explore the attitudes towards consanguinity and its associations with socio-demographic characteristics in a sample of Saudi adults.

Methods: 

A cross-sectional study was conducted using a self-administered questionnaire. A total of 386 outpatient waiting-area attendees at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City-Riyadh were included. Participants were asked about their socio-demographic characteristics, attitude towards consanguinity and the reasons behind this.

Results: 

The positive attitude towards consanguinity among the study respondents was 48.1% with 95% confidence interval (42.91–53.33%). Social and traditional culture (59.9%) were found to be the predominant reasons for favoring consanguinity in Saudi Arabia. Evidence against a positive attitude towards consanguinity was noted in respondents who received medical information about consanguinity versus those who had not received medical information (42.3% vs. 57%, p-value = 0.008). According to the multivariate logistic model, the odds of a positive attitude towards consanguinity were 2 times higher for males (adjusted odds ratio [aOR]: 2.2; 95% CI: 1.147, 4.290) and 4.1 times higher in respondents in consanguineous marriages (aOR: 4.1; 95% CI: 2.350, 7.156). The odds of a positive attitude towards consanguinity were 50% less in respondents who received health information on consanguinity compared to those who had not received health information about consanguinity (aOR: 0.50; 95% CI: 0.253, 0.863).

Conclusion: 

One in every two Saudi adults favors consanguinity however, Saudi men and women differ in their attitudes towards consanguinity. Receiving health information on consanguinity was associated with a negative attitude towards this practice.

...Consanguinity is a worldwide issue, but particularly so in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia was ranked as the second highest Arab country to have a high frequency of consanguineous marriage, with the prevalence varying in different studies from 22–55%.² Exploring the attitude towards consanguineous marriages and its health-related issues among Saudis is an attempt to clarify such a problem and suggest some solutions. In this study, the positive attitude towards consanguinity among the respondents was high, with approximately half of the respondents having a positive attitude towards consanguinity...

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/P3wxM1

By:  Omar A. Alharbi, 1 Walaa A. Al-Shaia, 2 Abdulaziz A. Al-Hamam, 3 Hala M. Al-Marzoug, 4 Anwar E. Ahmed, 5 andMuhammed Bagha 6

¹College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

²College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

³College of Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Ahsaa, Saudi Arabia

⁴College of Medicine, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

⁵College of Public Health and Health Informatics, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

⁶King Abdullah Specialist Children Hospital, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

E-mail: as.dem.ahgn@nademha; Email: ude.ucv@5ademha

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Language in Online Dating Texts: Trait Identification, Homophily, and their Effect on Attraction

Research has indicated that online daters may pick up on language cues connected to personality traits in online dating profile texts, and act upon those cues. This research seeks to investigate the level of accuracy of detection of personality in dating profile texts, and the extent to which perceived or actual similarity of personality has an effect on attractiveness of the author. 

An online survey was conducted collecting the Ten Item Personality Inventory (TIPI) for each participant and text author, a peer-report TIPI score by participants for each text author, and an attractiveness rating on a Likert scale for each author. Participants correctly identified Extraversion, though the effect size was small. 

Contrary to the hypotheses, participants preferred texts when written by an author with a personality they perceived as dissimilar to their own, specifically in Openness and Conscientiousness, and no relationship was found between actual similarity of personality and attractiveness. 

Online daters may choose partners with complementary or desirable traits rather than similar traits, or other factors in attraction may be more salient in the initial stages of determining attraction.

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By:  Fox Hamilton N1, Fullwood C1, Kirwan G2.

• 1University of Wolverhampton.
• 2Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire. 

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Teens’ Self-Efficacy to Deal with Dating Violence as Victim, Perpetrator or Bystander

Multiple studies have demonstrated that adolescent dating violence is highly prevalent and associated with internalizing and externalizing problems. A number of prevention initiatives are being implemented in North-American high schools. Such initiatives do not only aim to raise awareness among potential victims and offenders but also among peer bystanders. Since teenagers mainly reach out to their peers when experiencing adversity, it is important to address adolescents’ efficiency to deal with witnessing dating violence or with friends disclosing dating abuse, in addition to increasing ability to deal with experienced dating violence victimization or perpetration. 

The aim of this study is to explore adolescents’ self-efficacy to deal with dating violence victimization and perpetration in their relationships and those of their peers. A paper-and-pencil questionnaire was completed by 259 14–18 years olds in Quebec, Canada. The data allows building insight into adolescents’ confidence to reach out for help or to help others in a situation of dating violence victimization and perpetration. We also considered the impact of gender and dating victimization history. 

Results suggest that dating violence prevention can build on teens’ self-efficacy to deal with dating violence and offer them tools to do so efficiently.

...Girls generally report higher self-efficacy to deal with having witnessed or experienced DV than boys, as suggested by Banyard and colleagues (Banyard, 2008; Banyard et al., 2010). While boys paint a positive picture of their competence to seek help for themselves or others when confronted with DV, they feel less confident than girls. Our results further demonstrate that girls feel most confident to encourage a victim of DV to talk to someone they trust, while boys feel most confident they could intervene when they witness someone being hit. Overall, male teenagers seem to have less difficulty in directly intervening or to act as opposed to talking to someone, whether it concerns something that happens to them or to another. Girls do not present diminished self-efficacy when it comes to verbal skills. This concords with findings based on adult samples of male bystanders to be more likely to engage in heroic and risky behaviour to help others in need, while women prefer more nurturing strategies (Eagly and Crowley, 1986; Frasier Chabot et al., 2009). Also, male respondents in our sample indicate to be least likely to tell on someone who is abusing their partner. Adolescent male tolerance for DV perpetration was also highlighted by Noonan and Charles (2009).

Secondly, since boys seem to feel less confident than girls when confronted with DV, prevention programs, irrespective of their focus on potential victims and perpetrators or on potential bystanders, should pay particular attention to boosting boys’ confidence to deal with DV (Banyard et al., 2010). Particular attention should be paid to their verbal or communication skills. Teenage males feel most confident that they could intervene but present lower self-efficacy as far as talking to someone is concerned. While girls are more inclined to talk to someone, boys are more prone to take action, such as intervening when someone is hit. As such, they may put themselves more at risk of harm by getting involved in a violent situation. Prevention programs need to address dangers of direct interventions by witnesses and offer alternative helping behaviors, such as talking to the victim or reporting violence to an adult. Thirdly, we observed a male tolerance for gendered violence in the form of a lower sense of self-efficacy to tell on a perpetrator among their peers. Although self-efficacy to inform someone about a friend abusing their partner is positive among boys, it received the lowest score in the self-efficacy scale. It therefore justifies highlighting the need to address it in bystander education programs, as already suggested by Gidycz et al. (2011) as well as by Miller et al. (2012). They remark that through bystander education one strives to raise awareness and reduce tolerance for gendered violence, which might in turn dissuade teens from verbally or physically assaulting peers...

Full article at:  http://goo.gl/A2Rrfj

By:  Tinneke Van Camp,1 Martine Hébert,2 Elisa Guidi,2,3 Francine Lavoie,4 Martin Blais,2 and the members of the PAJ Team

¹School of law, University of Sheffield, UK

2Department of sexology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada

3Department of psychology, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

4

²Department of sexology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada

³Department of psychology, Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italy

⁴School of psychology, Université Laval, Canada

1School of law, University of Sheffield, UK

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I Made a Date With a Guy in an Open Relationship. Do I Have to Go? - Video

Via:  http://goo.gl/lFL5r1

What Should I Say to a Straight Friend Who Thinks Gay Men Are Incapable of Monogamy?

Via:  http://goo.gl/Rk5Py5  By:  https://twitter.com/mjs_DC

Trends in Cohabitation Outcomes: Compositional Changes and Engagement among Never-Married Young Adults

Cohabitation is now the modal first union for young adults, and most marriages are preceded by cohabitation even as fewer cohabitations transition to marriage. These contrasting trends may be due to compositional shifts among cohabiting unions, which are increasingly heterogeneous in terms of cohabitation order, engagement, and the presence of children, as well as across socioeconomic and demographic characteristics. 

The author constructs 5-year cohabitation cohorts for 18- to 34-year-olds from the 2002 and 2006–2010 cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth (n = 17,890 premarital cohabitations) to examine the outcomes of cohabitations over time. 

Compared to earlier cohabitations, those formed after 1995 were more likely to dissolve, and those formed after 2000 were less likely to transition to marriage even after accounting for the compositional shifts among individuals in cohabiting unions. 

Higher instability and decreased chances of marriage occurred among both engaged and non-engaged individuals, suggesting society-wide changes in cohabitation over time.

Below:  Dissolution Within 36 Months, Engaged

Below:   Marriage Within 36 Months, Not Engaged

Below:  Marriage Within 36 Months, Engaged

Below:  Dissolution Within 36 Months, Not Engaged

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/o5LbGF

By:  Karen Benjamin Guzzo

Karen Benjamin Guzzo, Bowling Green State University;

Department of Sociology, Bowling Green State University (https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/sociology.html), Williams Hall, Bowling Green, OH 43403 (ude.usgb@ozzugk).

J Marriage Fam. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2016 Jan 14.

Published in final edited form as: J Marriage Fam. 2014 Aug; 76(4): 826–842.

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Are Women’s Mate Preferences for Altruism Also Influenced by Physical Attractiveness?

Altruism plays a role in mate choice, particularly in women’s preferences and in long-term (LT) relationships. 

The current study analyzed how these preferences interacted with another important mate choice variable, physical attractiveness. Here, female participants were presented with photographs of men of varying levels of physical attractiveness, alongside descriptions of them behaving either altruistically or not in different scenarios. 

The results showed women preferred altruistic men, particularly in LT relationships and that this interacted with physical attractiveness such that being both attractive and altruistic made a man more desirable than just the sum of the two desirable parts. 

Also, being altruistic made low attractive men more desirable but only for LT relationships. Finally, men who were just altruistic were rated more desirable than men who were just attractive, especially for LT relationships. 

Overall, these findings are discussed in terms of the role of altruism in mate choice, particularly in LT relationships and directions of future research.

Below: Graph of mean desirability ratings (±standard error [SE]) of men by level of attractiveness, level of altruism, and length of relationship.

Below:  Graph of proportional change in desirability from short-term to long-term (±standard error [SE]) of men by level of attractiveness and level of altruism

Below:  Graph of desirability ratings (±standard error [SE]) of men displaying either high altruism or high attractiveness only by different relationship lengths

Full article at:   http://goo.gl/CsBhtg

By:  Daniel Farrelly1, Paul Clemson2, Melissa Guthrie2

¹Institute of Health and Society, University of Worcester, Worcester, United Kingdom

²Department of Psychology, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, United Kingdom

Daniel Farrelly, Institute of Health and Society, University of Worcester, Worcester, United Kingdom. Email: d.farrelly@worc.ac.uk

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In Search of Teen Dating Violence Typologies

Purpose

The goal of the present research was to identify distinct latent classes of adolescents that commit teen dating violence (TDV) and assess differences on demographic, behavioral, and attitudinal correlates.

Methods

Boys and girls (N = 1,149; M_age = 14.3; Grades 6–12) with a history of violence exposure completed surveys assessing six indices of TDV in the preceding 3 months. Indices of TDV included controlling behaviors, psychological TDV, physical TDV, sexual TDV, fear/intimidation, and injury. In addition, adolescents provided demographic and dating history information and completed surveys assessing attitudes condoning violence, relationship skills and knowledge, and reactive/proactive aggression.

Results

Latent class analysis indicated a three-class solution wherein the largest class of students was nonviolent on all indices (“nonaggressors”) and the smallest class of students demonstrated high probability of nearly all indices of TDV (“multiform aggressors”). In addition, a third class of “emotional aggressors” existed for which there was a high probability of controlling and psychological TDV but low likelihood of any other form of TDV. Multiform aggressors were differentiated from emotional and nonaggressors on the use of self-defense in dating relationships, attitudes condoning violence, and proactive aggression. Emotional aggressors were distinguished from nonaggressors on nearly all measured covariates.

Conclusions

Evidence indicates that different subgroups of adolescents engaging in TDV exist. In particular, a small group of youth engaging in multiple forms of TDV can be distinguished from a larger group of youth that commit acts of TDV restricted to emotional aggression (i.e., controlling and psychological) and most youth that do not engage in TDV.

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By:  Dennis E. Reidy, Ph.D., Barbara Ball, Ph.D., Debra Houry, M.D., Kristin M. Holland, Ph.D., Linda A. Valle, Ph.D., Megan C. Kearns, Ph.D., Khiya J. Marshall, Ph.D., Barri Rosenbluth, L.C.S.W.

Affiliations

Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia

Correspondence

Address correspondence to: Dennis E. Reidy, Ph.D., Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA 30341.

dreidy@cdc.gov

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2015.09.028

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Physical Dating Violence, Sexual Violence & Unwanted Pursuit Victimization: A Comparison of Incidence Rates among Sexual-Minority & Heterosexual College Students

The purpose of this study was to estimate the 6-month incidence rates of sexual assault, physical dating violence (DV), and unwanted pursuit (e.g., stalking) victimization among sexual-minority (i.e., individuals with any same-sex sexual experiences) college students with comparison data from non-sexual-minority (i.e., individuals with only heterosexual sexual experiences) college students. 

Participants (N = 6,030) were primarily Caucasian (92.7%) and non-sexual-minority (82.3%). Compared with non-sexual-minority students (N-SMS; n = 4,961), sexual-minority students (SMS; n = 1,069) reported significantly higher 6-month incidence rates of physical DV (SMS: 30.3%; N-SMS: 18.5%), sexual assault (SMS: 24.3%; N-SMS: 11.0%), and unwanted pursuit (SMS: 53.1%; N-SMS: 36.0%) victimization. We also explored the moderating role of gender and found that female SMS reported significantly higher rates of physical DV than female N-SMS, whereas male SMS and male N-SMS reported similar rates of physical DV. Gender did not moderate the relationship between sexual-minority status and victimization experiences for either unwanted pursuit or sexual victimization. 

These findings underscore the alarmingly high rates of interpersonal victimization among sexual-minority students and the critical need for research to better understand the explanatory factors that place SMS at increased risk for interpersonal victimization.

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By:   Edwards KM1, Sylaska KM2, Barry JE3, Moynihan MM2, Banyard VL2, Cohn ES2, Walsh WA2, Ward SK2.

• 1University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA Katie.Edwards@unh.edu. (http://cola.unh.edu/womens-studies)
• 2University of New Hampshire, Durham, USA.
• 3University of Chicago, IL, USA.

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