Prevalence and Correlates of Physical Assault on Dating Partners

Abstract

This paper examines the prevalence and correlates of dating partner violence in a cohort of 1,736 university students from Hong Kong and the United States. The participants completed the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale and the Personal and Relationships Profile to report on the rates of occurrence of physical assault and injury. The differences between the two sites were compared using independent t-tests. Logistic regression was employed to predict the presence or absence of physical assault in the previous year of reporting based on the demographic variables. Results showed that more Hong Kong students reported physical assault than did US students. A combination of the perpetrator-related demographic characteristics, and relationship and personal factors accounted for the differences in the preceding-year prevalence of physical assault perpetration in the two samples. To further investigate dating violence in diverse social settings, cultural factors correlated to dating violence should be taken into consideration.