Article Critique

Gender Differences in the Relationship between Intimate Partner Violence Victimization and the Perception of Dating Situations among College Students



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Thesis

In the article named “Gender differences in the relationship between intimate partner violence victimization and the perception of dating situations among college students”, the authors Moises Prospero and Shetal Vohra-Gupta have highlighted a key issue that has gained increasing importance with the passage of time. The increase in the number of incidents involving physical and sexual violence has called on for the need of paying due attention to the issue. According to the authors, the issue exists since a long time, but at present the issues have increased at a rapid pace than ever before. It is a common perception that females are found to be the victim of such violence by the hands of their dating or intimate partner (Prospero & Vohra-Gupta, 2007). According to the author, American College Health Association and other sources have researched that the rate of such violence in the United States is found to be in the range of 20% to 60%. This is an alarming situation and needs to be controlled. Those females who have been victimized during adolescence are posed to the threat of getting victimized again. This increase in interpersonal violence in colleges has affected the perception of future dating of those who have been victims of such violence.

Professionals have been investigating in order to determine the nature of relationship that exists between the behavior of person and his perceptions. The authors state that researches have found out that the behavior of a person is impacted by his/her perceptions. According to Riggs and O'Leary, those adolescents who are habitual of domestic violence resort to the use of violence during dating than the ones who are not. As a result, the factor of aggression is intensified in their behavior. According to the authors, those who consider themselves more dominant than their dating partner are more likely to initiate the use of violence during dating.

Methodology

Primary research was done by the authors to research the topic. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were utilized by them to develop this paper. The sample size for the research comprised of 200 college students out of which 68% were females. This sample was further divided on the basis of their race as 29% Hispanic, 28% African American, 28% White, 7% Asian, and 8% self-classified as “Other”. Out of this sample, 76% were of the ages between 18 to 25 years.

First, qualitative methods were employed to gather data regarding dating scenarios from real life and then quantitative methods were applied to analyze this data and come up with the desired results. Valuable information was acquired by resident assistants who have a vast experience of interpersonal violence that they had experienced themselves or had observed. Furthermore, the focus groups involved in the study were asked whether the element of aggression was present in the behavior of all the individuals who were involved in dating, and how ...