Gender and Dating Violence Perpetration and Victimization: A Comparison of American and Chinese College Students

Abstract

Previous research has shown that violence in romantic relationships is a serious social and public health problem throughout the world among young adults. College students, as a vulnerable group, experience high rates of dating violence, irrespective of gender and nation. Yet, we still know relatively little about whether dating violence shows gender similarities or differences in different cultural settings. United States and China are both patriarchal societies but have diverse cultural background. There may be different gendered patterns of dating violence across these two countries. This study examined the gender differences in physical assault victimization and perpetration among college students in the United States and China, while controlling for dominance, jealousy, violence approval, and a number of demographic factors. Logistic regression analyses were conducted for a total of 5,631 individuals from the United States and China who participated in the International Dating Violence Study from 2001 to 2006. Results demonstrated that male and female college students in China were significantly less likely to be victims of minor physical assault compared with students in the United States. In addition, female students, both in the United States and China, were more likely to perpetrate minor and severe physical assault against their partners than male students in this sample. But Chinese females had a higher percentage of assault against their dating partners than females in the United States. This study contributes to the research on dating violence by exploring cross-cultural gender differences in both victimization and perpetration of physical violence among college students. The implications of findings and future research direction were discussed.

Profiles of Teen Dating Violence and Association With Depression Among Chinese Teens

“…Coker et al (2014) found that the rates of TDV victimization and perpetration were higher among female high school students (42.5% for either victim or perpetrator, 37.2% for victim, 24.3% for perpetrator) than their male counterparts (31.9% for either victim or perpetrator, 28.7% for victim, 15.1% for perpetrator). However, Luo (2021) found that in China and the United States, female college students reported more physical assault perpetration against their partners, compared with their male counterparts-but the opposite was found for sexual violence. Vagi et al (2015) analyzed data on 9,900 U.S. high school students with dating experience from the Youth Risk Behavior Survey.…”

“…TDV is not rare in the United States or in Chinese societies (Coker et al, 2014;Kann et al, 2016;Luo, 2021;Shen, 2014;Shen et al, 2012). There may, however, be important differences in prevalence between Western and Chinese populations.…”

“…For example, reseach indicates that LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) youth are at higher risk for TDV victimization and perpetration than their heterosexual, cisgender peers (Dank et al, 2014;Reuter et al, 2015). Some disagreement exists as to whether girls or boys have a greater risk of TDV (Ball & Rosenbluth, 2010;Coker et al, 2014;Luo, 2021;Malik et al, 1997;Miller-Perrin et al, 2018;Vagi et al, 2015). Coker et al (2014) found that the rates of TDV victimization and perpetration were higher among female high school students (42.5% for either victim or perpetrator, 37.2% for victim, 24.3% for perpetrator) than their male counterparts (31.9% for either victim or perpetrator, 28.7% for victim, 15.1% for perpetrator).…”

El desarrollo de la vida ante la pandemia de COVID-19

“…La pandemia de COVID-19 llevó a que los gobiernos de los países tomaran medidas estrictas preventivas de aislamiento social, con el fin de frenar la propagación de la enfermedad; sin embargo, estas medidas tuvieron un efecto en las dinámicas familiares y en la forma como los miembros se relacionaban, debido a que estar confinados en espacios reducidos afecta tanto la salud física como la mental, generando estados emocionales y afectivos de alto riesgo con síntomas de trastornos mentales y comportamientos desadaptativos, presentándose en algunos casos violencia de pareja o intrafamiliar (Ahmed et al, 2020;Lei et al, 2020). Las investigaciones iniciales del impacto del aislamiento en la salud de las personas, durante la actual pandemia, demuestran que la cuarentena por la COVID-19 ocasiona un grave impacto emocional en la población adulta, en la que predominan síntomas de ansiedad, depresión y estrés de gravedad moderada a severa (Luo, 2020;Odriozola-González et al, 2020;Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al, 2020).…”

“It is shameful for me, but it doesn’t define me”: Exploring Experiences of Intimate Partner Abuse and Help-seeking among Female Students with a Male Partner

“…Using a subsample of the IDVS it was found that approximately one third of male and female students reported experiencing intimate partner victimisation (Meade et al, 2017). When comparing the IDVS data collected from universities in the United States (US) and China, it was found that 25.6% of females in both countries had experienced minor assault from a dating partner (Luo, 2018). Severe assault had been experienced by 10.3% of female students in the US compared to 13.3% of female students in China.…”