Background Traditional gender roles (GRs) have a considerable influence on relationships among couples. These can lead to negative health effects in women; however, their impact on intimate partner violence (IPV) has been less explored, especially among younger women. Objective To explore the association between traditional GRs and several indicators of IPV on a sample of Spanish female university students involved in heterosexual dating relationships. Methods A cross-sectional study involving female university students (n = 1,005) pursuing ten degrees (four Health Science degrees and six Social Sciences degrees). Data were collected using two validated scales: 1) the Questionnaire on the Gender Determinants of Contraception (COGANT), used to examine four traditional GRs (submissive, blind, and passive attitudes of female students, and male dominance), and 2) the Dating Violence Questionnaire-R (DVQ-R) scale, used to measure five types of IPV-behaviors (coercion, detachment, humiliation, sexual violence, and physical violence), perceived fear, entrapment, and abuse. Logistic and linear regressions were conducted to study the association between GR and a series of IPV indicators in dating relationships. Results Traditional GRs were highly prevalent (57.0% submissive, 52.0% blind attitude, 75.7% passive, and 31.7% identified their boyfriend as being dominant). Up to 66.3% experienced some type of violent behavior. All GRs were significantly associated with IPV indicators. A submissive attitude in female students was the GR that was most strongly associated to total IPV-behavior (adjusted odd ratio [OR] = 3.18; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.29–4.42), followed by male dominance (OR = 2.79: 95% CI:1.71: 4.54). Both GRs were also highly associated with perceived fear, entrapment, and abuse. Conclusions A high presence of traditional GRs was found in the relationships held by female university students, which was significantly associated with IPV indicators. Universities must adopt policies for gender equality and raise awareness on dating violence.

Introduction Sexual violence victimization in the context of intimate partner among young women has been less addressed than other types of dating violence. Methods The aim was to describe the prevalence of intimate partner sexual violence victimization among heterosexual female university students in Spain and to explore the presence of polyvictimization. A cross-sectional study was conducted involving female university students (n = 1064) from 10 degrees at a public university in northern Spain in 2018. Five types of intimate partner violence victimization were analyzed (coercion, detachment, humiliation, sexual violence, and physical violence). Results Of the female university students, 20.8% experienced intimate partner sexual violence victimization. Among victims of intimate partner sexual violence, sexual debut before the age of 16, having had three or more partners, having interrupted that violent relationship, and having a family history of intimate partner violence were more frequent. Victimization of intimate partner sexual violence was significantly associated with other forms of intimate partner violence, especially coercion and detachment. Conclusions Intimate partner sexual violence victimization is frequent among female university students and usually does not appear on its own. Rather, it occurs in the context of other types of intimate partner violence, especially psychological violence. Policy Implications At the beginning of adulthood, many young women attend university and many of them are suffering IPSV, making this an appropriate environment to address this important problem through various actions such as: information campaigns to improve the recognition of abusive behavior or the creation of care offices as a nearby resource for university women who are victims of violence.