Are Dating and Peer Aggression Models Symmetrical Across Three Countries

• In Event: Intergenerational Criminology, Panel 2. Family and Intergenerational Perspectives II

Abstract

Aggression towards peers and dating partners are seldom studied using the same matrix of aggression questions and within the same sample. This makes it hard to reasonably assess whether aggressive behaviors are general (the same perpetrators aggressing against multiple types of relationships—peers, dating partners) or specific (peer-specific or dating-specific). This study uses the same set of aggression questions for dating relationships and peer relationships, making it possible to compare propensities of aggression across relationship types. Consistent with previous studies, it is hypothesized that experiences of familial aggression will be related to dating aggression; and risk-taking and hostile attitudes will be related to peer aggression.
The sample was taken from college students in large universities in three countries: the United States, South Korea and the Philippines. Both male and female students completed a self-report questionnaire that assessed their degree of aggression when upset or angry; their experiences of witnessing parental violence, their hostile and risk-taking attitudes, and their self-conscious emotions of guilt, shame and blaming.

Authors

• Sheila Royo Maxwell, Michigan State University

• Carrie K. W. Li, The University of Hong Kong, Department of Social Work and Social Administration

• Christopher D Maxwell, Michigan State University