Risk Factors for Concordance Between Partners in Assault Among University Student Couples

Abstract

Based on information 11,408 university students provided on perpetration of physical assault in a romantic relationship, they were classified into three Dyadic Concordance Types (DCTs). We then examined six risk factors drawn from previous literature of partner violence: physical abuse as a child, antisocial personality characteristics, alcohol abuse, coercive control, chronic denigration in a relationship, and patriarchy at the societal level. We hypothesized that some risk factors for assault are different dependent on the DCT. Using multinomial logistic regression, we found that some risk factors were associated with an increase in the risk of a couple being in the Male Only assaulted DCT more than the other two DCTs (e.g., men who were high in antisocial personality characteristics). Other risk factors were found to be associated with a greater increase in the risk a couple being in the Both assaulted DCTs (e.g., chronic denigration). These results suggest that theories about the etiology of partner violence should take into account whether the couple is Male Only, Female Only, and Both assaulted. Identification of the DCTs of cases can be helpful in focusing research, treatment, and prevention of partner violence in a way that better reflects the actual situation.

Gender-violence, dyadic-violence, and dyadic concordance types: A conceptual and methodological alternative to Hamby (2016) that incorporates both the gendered and dyadic interaction aspects of violence to enhance research and the safety of women.

“…Figures 1 and 2 are examples of the results when couples are classified according to concordance and discordance in respect to assault. Similar results have been obtained for DCTs of other types of partner abuse such as psychological aggression (Straus & Michel-Smith, 2014b) and sexual coercion (Straus & Michel-Smith, 2015).…”