Who Are the Victims and Who Are the Perpetrators in Dating Violence? Sharing the Role of Victim and Perpetrator

Building resilience through daily smartphone app use: results of a pilot study of the JoyPop app with social work students

Background

The JoyPop™ smartphone app is a digital intervention designed to enhance day-to-day resilience in youth, particularly those exposed to traumatogenic events [adverse childhood experiences (ACEs)]. Processes of adaptation that foster resilience in response to high stress include affect, cognitive, and behavioral regulation, and social interaction. Digital interventions have application for youth and those who provide them support, including social work trainees navigating the stressors of university studies concurrent with practice internships. Research on resilience-enhancing apps is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms by which change occurs and who is most likely to benefit from these interventions.

Methods

Social work student participants (N = 91) were invited to use the JoyPop app two times daily for 28 days. Baseline ACE exposure and change-over-time in affect regulation, stress responsivity, and social support were evaluated after 2 and 4 weeks of app use with t-tests and generalized estimating equation (GEE) modeling.

Results

Participants identified predominantly as cisgender women of European descent, mean age 26 years (SD = 6.78), 70% undergraduates, and reported consistent daily app use (Mean days = 26.9, SD = 1.90). Self-reported baseline ACE exposure was high (30% ≥ 5+). We tested change-over-time with generalized estimating equation and saw improvement in affect regulation in the Abbreviated Dysregulation Inventory scale (β = -3.38, p = <.001), and subscales of behavioral (β = -1.63, p = <.001), affect (β = -3.24, p = <.001), and cognitive regulation (β = 1.50, p = .009). Perceived stress decreased with app use (β = -2.65, p = <.001) and even more so for participants with reported exposure to more than 4 ACEs (β = -3.786, p = .030).

Conclusions

The exploratory findings from our pilot study suggest that consistent use of the app may enhance multidimensional resilience amongst university students who self-report higher than average levels of baseline traumatogenic exposures. Our findings support an approach modeling resilience as a complex, dynamic, multicomponent process supported by resources within and between individuals. Further testing of the mechanisms of adaptation in response to high stress that enhance resilience and identification of the JoyPop™ app features that influence this change is needed to validate that daily app use could help youth with experiences of past and current high stress to better regulate their affect, reduce stress reactivity, and increase resilience.

Social marketing program for dating violence bystander intervention on university campus: analyzing its effectiveness and sociocultural feasibility

The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness and sociocultural feasibility of a dating violence (DV) bystander intervention program, called With-Us, implemented on university campus in South Korea. Participants were recruited from two universities, some as part of an intervention group (n = 99) and the others as part a comparison group (n = 67). The participants were assessed pre- and post-interventions in terms of their readiness and intention to help, as well as their efficacy. Analyses show that the program increased the readiness in bystanders to help victims. Contrarily, it was observed that older participants, males, and those having higher patriarchal gender stereotypes, were less likely to pay attention to the program. Based on the findings, we provided several suggestions to promote its effectiveness and sociocultural feasibility so that it could be efficiently applied in further studies.

Nonintimate Polyvictimization and the Severity of Intimate Partner Violence Experienced by Men

There is a dearth of research on the relation of men's cumulative experiences of nonintimate victimization (polyvictimization) to their victimization in intimate relationships. This study examines the association between nonintimate polyvictimization (including being abused as a child, cyberbullied, stalked, physically assaulted, and experiencing property crime) and the severity of intimate partner violence victimization in men. The sample of 8,784 men in current married/common-law relationships was drawn from a random sample of the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey. About 3% of the men (an estimate of about 265,000 men in Canada) experienced the most severe forms of partner abuse, including the combination of emotional abuse and controlling behaviors, physical violence, and the resulted injuries. Among these severely abused men, about one-third were polyvictims. As expected, a nonintimate polyvictimization predicted the increased severity of male partner abuse victimization, controlling for sociodemographic variables. These findings highlight the importance of preventing nonintimate polyvictimization of men that can help reduce their partner violence victimization.

Reflecting and rejuvenating our work, together: One team's consideration of AJCP publications on gender-based violence

Community psychology has long valued reflexive praxis as a critical part advancing our research and action. In this Virtual Special Issue (VSI), we, a group of community psychologists and gender-based violence (GBV) researchers at many different points in our careers, reflected on GBV publications that have appeared in AJCP. We examine the ways in which community psychology broadly and articles in AJCP more specifically have conceptualized GBV as a sociocultural issue, how GBV intersects with other oppressions and forms of violence, the tension when systems that aspire to support survivors are inequitable and focused on ameliorative change, and the importance of interventions being locally informed and locally driven. By highlighting selected GBV-focused articles published in AJCP, this VSI discusses (a) understanding and transforming culture via robust research and local partnerships, (b) targeting effective interventions for survivors, (c) invoking systems and targeting change in institutional environments, and (d) making connections between local efforts and broader social movements. To continue to move forward, we conclude we must reflect, embrace methodological plurality, partner, and push for structural change. Reflective questions regarding research and action are offered, to address gender-based violence.

Early Childhood Predictors of Teen Dating Violence Involvement at Age 17

The distal relationship between risk factors in childhood and subsequent dating violence in late adolescence has not often been explored using longitudinal data. This study aims to shed light on the problem of dating violence by examining children’s backgrounds at age 7 and the link to the future involvement in dating violence at age 17 using the first and seventh waves of the Zurich Project on the Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso, n = 644). The sample consists of 644 multiethnic adolescents (57.14% female, M = 17.47, SD = 0.37), mainly Swiss-born (90%), though more than half of their parents (60%) were born in another country. A latent class analysis was applied to identify three different profiles (a) zero (or minimal) involvement in teen dating violence, (b) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors, and (c) perpetrators/victims of controlling behaviors and of physical violence. Participants who were corporally punished and/or victims of bullying at age 7 were significantly more likely to belong to the controlling and physical violence profile than children in the non-violent class. These results suggest a certain chronicity of the effects of violent experiences in early childhood on the patterns of romantic relationships at 17 years old.

Male Victims' Experiences With and Perceptions of the Criminal Justice Response to Intimate Partner Abuse

Intimate partner abuse (IPA) carries severe physical and psychological consequences for victims, and the police and courts are some of the essential formal structures that help victims address their victimization. Studies suggest that male victims of IPA are reluctant to speak about or report their victimization to the police. This qualitative study examines the experiences male victims of IPA had with the criminal justice system (i.e., the courts and police). We conducted interviews with 16 men who had experienced IPA in their previous relationship in Canada. Two major themes about the police response were identified: the barriers to contacting the police for help and negative experiences with the police response. We found that men who chose not to contact the police did it due to the negative expectations of being ridiculed by the police, not being believed, and fear of being arrested. Those men who called the police for help reported unfriendly and antagonistic police treatment and the police's reluctance to charge abusive female partners. The themes that reflected the male victims' interactions with the court pointed to: (1) legal and administrative abuse by female partners, including false accusations and manipulations of child custody, and (2) a general bias against men in the courtroom. This study brings attention to the need for law enforcement officers to be aware of the experiences and perceptions male victims have of the criminal justice system and the need for the criminal justice system to create more inclusive strategies to help male victims of IPA.

The Online Hate Speech Cycle of Violence: Moderating Effects of Moral Disengagement and Empathy in the Victim-to-Perpetrator Relationship

Adolescents around the globe are increasingly exposed to online hate speech (OHS). And yet little is known about the varying roles of involvement and the determinants of adolescents' hate speech perpetration. Building on previous research, this study aims to test the cycle of violence hypothesis for OHS and to analyze whether moral disengagement (MD) and empathy moderate the victim-to-perpetrator relationship. The sample consists of 3,560 seventh to ninth graders (52.1 percent girls), recruited from 40 schools across Germany and Switzerland. Self-report questionnaires were administered to assess OHS involvement, MD, and empathy. Multilevel analyses revealed that victims of OHS were more likely to report OHS perpetration. In addition, victims of OHS were more likely to report OHS perpetration when they reported higher levels of MD than those with lower levels of MD. Finally, victims of OHS were less likely to report OHS perpetration when they reported higher levels of empathy than those with lower levels of empathy. The findings extend the cycle of violence hypothesis to OHS and highlight the need to address MD and empathy in hate speech prevention. Implications for future research will be discussed.

Dating Violence Questionnaire for Victimization and Perpetration (DVQ-VP): An interdependence analysis of self-reports

Background/Objective: Although measurement instruments for intimate partner violence (IPV) are available, their validity considering the interdependence of victimization and perpetration self-reports based on dyadic reports has not been tested. The aim was to test the validity and reliability of a new version of the Dating Violence Questionnaire (DVQ–R) that includes the interdependence of victimization and perpetration self-reports using current couple information. Method: Participants were young adults comprising 616 current heterosexual couples. Each dyad member responded to the victimization and perpetration versions of the DVQ-R independently from their partner. Results: The victimization-perpetration interdependence model based on dyadic data showed a good fit to the data and was invariant across sexes. All the factors were significantly correlated with each other and were reliable. Conclusions: The DVQ is a valid and reliable measurement instrument for the independent assessment of IPV perpetration and victimization in adolescent and young adult populations and an interdependent measure of IPV victimization and perpetration. The DVQ–VP is invariant across sexes, which makes the results obtained for males and females comparable. These results show the relevance of considering perpetration and victimization together and emphasize the necessity to be cautious regarding the excessive reliability of individual self-reported perpetration or victimization to obtain more precise knowledge.

The gender symmetry problem in physical teen dating violence: A commentary and suggestions for a research agenda

Dating violence is a serious manifestation of harmful behaviour during adolescence. During the past decades, considerable research has shed light on patterns, causes, and consequences of dating violence. One of the most notable findings emerging from widely used survey instruments is that female adolescents report perpetrating physical dating violence more or equally frequently as male adolescents. Similarly, male youth appear to equally frequently report that they have been victims of physical dating violence as female adolescents. This commentary reviews issues emerging from the debate on gender symmetry in dating violence and proposes directions for future research. It suggests that future research needs to consider three interrelated issues to advance the field, namely: to improve the understanding of differences in harm, advance the knowledge of gender differences in the short-term dynamics involved in conflict and aggression, and strengthen the evidence base on shared and gender-specific developmental aetiologies of dating violence.

Dating Violence: A Bibliometric Review of the Literature in Web of Science and Scopus

This study has the general purpose of improving the understanding and description of the field of violence in young couple relationships by means of a bibliometric analysis. A descriptive and transversal-retrospective methodology is used, the objective of which is to describe in a quantitative way the information obtained from the production of 842 references registered in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The results show that during 2017 and 2018, the majority of publications were concentrated, highlighting that the United States is the country with the highest amount of scientific production on violence in intimate relationships. It is important to highlight that more and more countries are investigating this subject, highlighting an increase in production from 2015 onwards. The violence that occurs in the relationships of young couples is a global social and health problem that requires research to be able to deepen its knowledge and in the prevention of this social scourge.

The National Prevalence of Adolescent Dating Violence in Canada

PURPOSE

The national prevalence of adolescent dating violence (ADV) in Canada is currently unknown. This study presents the first nationally representative Canadian data on prevalence and correlates of ADV victimization and perpetration.

METHODS

This study analyzed data from the 2017/2018 Health-Behavior in School-Aged Children (HBSC) dataset. Youth from all 10 provinces and two territories participated. The analysis sample includes 3,711 participants (mean age = 15.35) in grades 9 and 10 who reported dating experience in the past 12 months. Youth were asked to report on physical, psychological and cyber ADV victimization and perpetration. To explore correlates of ADV, we included grade in school; gender (male, female or non-binary); race/ethnicity; family structure; immigration status; family affluence; food insecurity; and body mass index.

RESULTS

We found that over one in three Canadian youth who had dated experienced and/or used ADV in the past 12 months. Specifically, past 12-month ADV victimization prevalence was 11.8% (95% CI: 10.4, 13.0) for physical aggression; 27.8% (25.8, 30.0) for psychological aggression; and 17.5% (15.8, 19.0) for cyber aggression, while perpetration prevalence was 7.3% (6.2, 9.0) for physical aggression; 9.3% (8.0, 11.0) for psychological aggression; and 7.8% (6.7, 9.0) for cyber aggression. Both victimization and perpetration were highest among non-binary youth (as compared to cisgender males and females). Overall, use and experience of ADV was greatest among youth experiencing social marginalization (e.g., poverty).

CONCLUSIONS

ADV impacts a substantial minority of Canadian youth, and is a serious health problem. ADV prevention programs that focus on root causes of violence (e.g., poverty) are needed.

Perpetration and Experience of Spousal Violence Among Nigerian Women: An Analysis of the 2008 and 2013 NDHS

Various socioeconomic and demographic factors have been known to be associated with spousal violence. The intimate partner violence (IPV) experiences of Nigerian women have been investigated from feminist and life course perspectives from previous studies. However, studies have also pointed to the complexities of victimhood with the presence of IPV perpetration. But there have been few studies on the impact of perpetration of violence on the experience of victimization, and this study seeks to address that gap in knowledge within the Nigerian context. It seeks to understand the dynamics of perpetration and the experience of spousal violence among Nigerian women across 2008 and 2013. The study analyzed the 2008 and 2013 Nigerian Demographic Health Survey (NDHS) data. Using binary logistic regression, the study showed that the perpetration of violence is significantly associated with a woman's victimization experience, after controlling for socioeconomic, demographic, and abuse variables in 2008 and 2013. This study does not in any way minimize the victimization experiences of Nigerian women but simply seeks to provide data that add nuance to our understanding of spousal violence and the possible existence of bidirectional violence among Nigerian spouses.

A mixed-method pilot study to test a program for friend-supporters of victims of dating violence

This study aimed to evaluate the acceptability and impact of a bystander program (With You Education) in South Korea, designed to enhance the competencies of friend-supporters to help victims of dating violence (DV). To assess the potential impact of the program, the participants (n = 46) were asked to complete pre-, post-, and 1-year follow-up surveys and take part in a focused group interview after the training. Participants exhibited significant changes from pretest to posttest evaluation in terms of their competencies as a supporter. Most improvements were sustained over time. Four qualitative themes revealed the multilayered outcomes of this program: increased readiness to help, awareness of DV, beginning to understand the victims, and awareness of DV as a public health problem. With You Education was seen to be an acceptable program for young adults, which can be potentially utilized as a formal violence-related education.

"Kept in Check": Representations and Feelings of Social and Health Professionals Facing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Social and health professionals facing gender-based violence in Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) express feelings and thoughts closely connected to their place of work and the users of their services. However, research on professionals’ reflexivity and their implications has not been closely investigated. Therefore, this article will describe representations of IPV among social and health professionals facing gender-based violence as well as their personal feelings in accomplishing their job. Fifty interviews with health and social professionals were analyzed using grounded theory methodology supported by Atlas.ti 8.4. Five macrocategories will describe this phenomenon, leading to the final explicative core category that summarizes professionals’ attitudes toward it. Being “kept in check” among partners, partners and families, services, and institutional duties is the core category that best expressed their feelings. Therefore, implications for services and training will be further discussed.

Drug Use Disorders and Violence: Associations With Individual Drug Categories

We conducted a systematic review that examined the link between individual drug categories and violent outcomes. We searched for primary case-control and cohort investigations that reported risk of violence against others among individuals diagnosed with drug use disorders using validated clinical criteria, following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. We identified 18 studies published during 1990–2019, reporting data from 591,411 individuals with drug use disorders. We reported odds ratios of the violence risk in different categories of drug use disorders compared with those without. We found odds ratios ranging from 0.8 to 25.0 for most individual drug categories, with generally higher odds ratios among individuals with polydrug use disorders. In addition, we explored sources of between-study heterogeneity by subgroup and meta-regression analyses. Cohort investigations reported a lower risk of violence than case-control reports (odds ratio =  2.7 (95% confidence interval (CI): 2.1, 3.5) vs. 6.6 (95% CI: 5.1, 8.6)), and associations were stronger when the outcome was any violence rather than intimate partner violence (odds ratio = 5.7 (95% CI: 3.8, 8.6) vs. 1.7 (95% CI: 1.4, 2.1)), which was consistent with results from the meta-regression. Overall, these findings highlight the potential impact of preventing and treating drug use disorders on reducing violence risk and associated morbidities.

Ending Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and Locating Men at Stake: An Ecological Approach

Interventions for ending intimate partner violence (IPV) have not usually provided integrated approaches. Legal and social policies have the duty to protect, assist and empower women and to bring offenders to justice. Men have mainly been considered in their role as perpetrators to be subjected to judicial measures, while child witnesses of violence have not been viewed as a direct target for services. Currently, there is a need for an integrated and holistic theoretical and operational model to understand IPV as gender-based violence and to intervene with the goal of ending the fragmentation of existing measures. The EU project ViDaCS-Violent Dads in Child Shoes-which worked towards the deconstruction and reconstruction of violence's effects on child witnesses, has given us the opportunity to collect the opinions of social workers and child witnesses regarding violence. Therefore, the article describes measures to deal with IPV, proposing functional connections among different services and specific preventative initiatives. Subsequently, this study will examine intimate partner violence and provide special consideration to interventions at the individual, relational, organizational and community levels. The final goal will be to present a short set of guidelines that take into account the four levels considered by operationalizing the aforementioned ecological principles.

Prevalence and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence in Canada as Measured by the National Victimization Survey

National victimization surveys that conceptualize intimate partner violence (IPV) as crime can contribute to a better understanding of the most severe forms of victimization in the intimate partner relationship. Based on the 2014 Canadian General Social Survey on Victimization, this study examined the prevalence of victimization resulted from physical and/or sexual IPV, controlling behaviors and also consequences of IPV for both men and women in a sample representative of the Canadian population. Given the paucity of research on male victims of IPV at the national population level, this article specifically discussed the experiences of men who reported violence perpetrated by their female intimate partners. Results showed that 2.9% of men and 1.7% of women reported experiencing physical and/or sexual IPV in their current relationships in the last 5 years. In addition, 35% of male and 34% of female victims of IPV experienced high controlling behaviors—the most severe type of abuse known as intimate terrorism. Moreover, 22% of male victims and 19% of female victims of IPV were found to have experienced severe physical violence along with high controlling behaviors. Although female victims significantly more often than male victims reported the injuries and short-term emotional effects of IPV (e.g., fear, depression, anger), there was no significant difference in the experience of the most long-term effects of spousal trauma—posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-related symptoms. This article argues that future research should explain the increased gap in reporting of the IPV victimization among men compared to women.