Adolescent Victims of Physical Dating Violence: Why Do They Stay in Abusive Relationships?

Abstract

According to recent international studies, most of the adolescent victims of physical dating violence remain satisfied and committed toward their abusive relationship, giving way to long-term relationships in which the abuse tends to persist and increase in frequency and severity. The objective of this study is to contribute to the understanding of the stay/leave decision of the adolescent victims of physical dating violence. A structural equation model was estimated to explain the direct and indirect contribution of the level of satisfaction, commitment, justification of the aggression, relationship duration, psychological coercion toward commitment, and the consequences of the abuse on the victims’ decision to continue in the abusive relationship. The sample was 456 Latinx adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years. The results corroborate that the decision to leave a physically abusive dating relationship is a complex phenomenon related to subjective variables such as (a) the level of satisfaction, (b) cognitive evaluation of the aggression (especially in those couples who have been together for a long time), and (c) the exposure to psychological pressures toward commitment. Future preventive strategies must incorporate actions to help the youngest to evaluate in a more objective and adequate way, the real quality of their first relationships, and aim to modify the justification of the aggression, the recognition of the potential harm, and to foster an adequate balance between the benefits and harm of staying in the abusive relationship.

Relationship quality among dating adolescents: Development and validation of the Relationship Quality Inventory for Adolescents

“…This finding is in line with prior work suggesting that even among couples reporting the presence of DV, adolescents report high levels of care, love, and selfdisclosure (Giordano et al, 2010). Previous studies also found that victimization experiences did not predict relationship dissolution among adolescents (Soller et al, 2020;Muñoz-Rivas et al, 2021). The current findings showed that these difficulties are negatively associated with connectedness and suggest that adolescents may opt to remain involved in an unsatisfying relationship to meet social standards and expectations.…”

An Integrative Exploration of Sexual, Physical, Psychological, and Cyber-Digital Relationship Abuse in Adolescent and Young Adult Relationships

“…Among a community sample of young adults (18-25 years old), Saint-Eloi Cadely et al [10] found that across eight waves of data, between 21-65% of participants reported to have perpetrated minor forms of physical abuse, whereas between 3-38% of participants indicated to have perpetrated severe forms of physical abuse. Furthermore, among a sample of Latinx adolescents (12-17 years old) whom all experienced physical abuse, Munoz-Rivas, Ronzon-Tirado, Redondo, & Cassinello [58] indicated that between 24-72% of adolescents were victimized by what was defined as mild forms of physical abuse (i.e., being punched or held tightly by a partner, being kicked or bitten, or having been hit or slapped) whereas only 1-2% of adolescents experienced more severe forms of aggression (i.e., being beaten, strangled, or attacked with a knife or weapon).…”

“…Even more troubling, many adolescents have trouble leaving a physically abusive relationship. This was found due to the satisfaction and commitment to the relationship, justification for the aggression as joking/playing around, and psychological coercion (e.g., feeling forced to remain in an abusive relationship) [58].…”

Structural relationships between psychosocial risk, relationship quality, need for cognition, and quarantine intentions: the case of the quarantine hotel

“…Second, commitment is defined as the act of binding individuals intellectually and emotionally toward a specific activity (Sanzo et al 2012 ). Many researchers have found commitment to be the key component of establishing and maintaining long-term relationships between business partners (Muñoz-Rivas et al 2021 ). Third, intimacy is referred to as a higher level of the organization and customer understanding and attitudinal congruence between (buyers and sellers) partners (Ahmad and Ahmed 2019 ).…”