College Students, Gender Orientation, and Interpersonal Violence: An Exploratory Study

• In Event: Posters I

Abstract

Based on data collected from the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 21% of college students have experienced dating violence by someone they were currently in a relationship with and 32% report dating violence by someone they were previously dating. Further, one third of college students report being physically assaulted by a partner within the past 12 months (Black et al. 2011). While there are a plethora of studies that address the impact of sex on interpersonal violence (McDermott and Lopez 2013; Shorey, Stuart, and Cornelius, 2011 and Straus 2004), there is a lack of information regarding the affects of gender orientation on interpersonal violence. This study attempts to fill this gap in the literature by examining the impact of gender orientation on the likelihood to use different violence tactics in interpersonal relationships using the Bem Sex Role Inventory and the Conflict Tactics Scale. This study finds support for two of the three proposed hypotheses, masculine gender orientation was significantly positively correlated with the both the “Violence” (Hypothesis 1) and the “Verbal Aggression” (Hypothesis 2) measures. However, Hypothesis 3 was unsupported in that there was no significant relationship between masculine gender orientation and the “Reasoning” measures.

Author

• Breanna C. Stewart, University of Akron