Adolescent Dating Violence: Results of a Mixed Study in Quito, Ecuador

Painting the Way Forward: An Ecological Cultural Visual Analysis of Anti-VAW Public Art in Rural Ecuador

Despite efforts within Ecuador to combat violence against women (VAW), the country still claims some of the highest rates of violence in the Americas. In this study, we complete a cultural visual analysis of anti-VAW public art in a small Ecuadorian city. Visual data is examined and interpreted by way of the social-ecological model (SEM). Specifically, our analysis considers how murals engage with the depiction of (a) VAW, (b) agentic responses to VAW, and (c) the different layers of the SEM. Our analysis identifies four specific strategies for constructing public art messaging to help achieve freedom from VAW.

Experiences of nursing students who are victims of dating violence: a qualitative study

BACKGROUND

Dating Violence (DV) is a type of Intimate Partner Violence that occurs between young people, and they are those behaviours that cause physical, sexual or psychological harm.

OBJECTIVE/AIM

To know the experience of university students around dating violence.

DESIGN AND METHODS

Qualitative study with a phenomenological approach was conducted through semi-structured individual interviews with nursing students' victims of dating violence with the same starting categories. The public involve in this study were nursing students who freely agreed to participate in the interviews and gave their informed consent.

RESULTS

Eleven nursing students participated, the sample was heterogeneous for gender and sexual diversity. Obtaining results about their experience with dating violence, manifestations of dating violence and cyber violence in their relationships, consequences, formal and informal help seeking and proposals for help as nursing students, among others.

CONCLUSION

Dating violence is a serious problem that seriously affects the victims and requires the creation of prevention programs. The experiences of university students about DV are mainly painful experiences, with serious consequences for those involved, needing help from their close environment and professional help to overcome the problems generated by their partners.

IMPLICATIONS

It is important due to the high prevalence of this phenomenon, also among nursing students, to provide key points to future health professionals and victims of dating violence on the correct way to act against violence due to lack of knowledge on the subject. This study clarifies the experiences of dating violence and how to offer help to victims from the informal and professional sphere.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Clinical Research of the Health Area of Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) with code 01/2021.

Strategies to Prevent and Cope with Adolescent Dating Violence: A Qualitative Study

BACKGROUND

Dating violence has attracted scholarly interest from many fields because of its implications for adolescents' health. This study aimed to learn which strategies adolescents use to address and prevent dating violence.

METHODS

Eight focus group discussions were analyzed, which included a total of 78 adolescents between 13 and 17 years old who had the signed consent of their parents or guardians.

RESULTS

The findings showed that the majority of adolescents lacked effective mechanisms to manage violence in their dating relationships, which were characterized by immaturity, a lack of trust in their families, and unrecognized relationship violence.

CONCLUSIONS

Assessing roles and relationships, as well as coping mechanisms, is a valid way to approach adolescents and explore how they perceive interaction during dating and which strategies are used most frequently to prevent violence.

Violence in Dating Relationships: Validation of the CADRI Questionnaire in a Young Adult Population

Dating violence in the young adult population is reaching alarming levels. However, the instruments used to measure it and their results are still heterogeneous. The main aim of this study was to validate the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory questionnaire for a young adult Spanish university population aged between 19 and 25 years old, and to describe the types of violence perpetrated and suffered.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study. A validity analysis was carried out through a confirmatory factor analysis. The relative frequencies for each type of violence and the Chi2 test for two dichotomous variables were used to describe the different types of violence perpetrated and suffered.

RESULTS

The sample consisted of 976 young adults aged 19-25 years old (M = 21.7 years. SD = 1.8). The confirmatory factor analysis had an adequate structure and a good fit to the model. The types of violence perpetrated and suffered were described according to the sex of the participants, with significant differences found for verbal-emotional violence and physical violence exerted.

CONCLUSIONS

The confirmatory factor analysis allowed us to consider the application of the questionnaire to be correct for the study population.

Influence of Cross-Cultural Factors about Sexism, Perception of Severity, Victimization, and Gender Violence in Adolescent Dating Relationships

The phenomenon of adolescent dating violence directed towards women is a widespread social health problem all over the world. Various investigations over time have analysed and studied this problem from different perspectives, taking into account both the aggressors and the victims. However, apart from these perspectives there are other approaches that have been less explored. This study analyses the phenomenon from a cultural point of view. It looks at the way in which variables such as hostile sexism, benevolent sexism, and the perception of severity attributed to violent behaviour perpetrated by the aggressor can differ depending on the country of origin of a group of victimized adolescent women, specifically, from Spain and Ecuador. The data analysis, based on the construction of a moderated mediation model, revealed that while hostile sexism seems to be linked to a greater extent with traditional cultures, benevolent sexism is highly relevant in today's society, and modifies the severity that young female victims attribute to violent behaviour and ultimately affects the frequency of victimization. These results revealed the importance of culture and the way in which violence is perceived in different countries as an essential aspect that must be taken into account to guide the construction of effective prevention programs adapted to the specific target groups of adolescents.