Perception of violence during intimate partner relationships among the adolescent population

Abstract

Objectives: to understand the perceptions by the adolescent population about intimate partner violence, and assess the Influence of gender, age, sexual orientation, and presence of an Intimate partner relationship. Method: a cross-sectional design. The sample was made of lZ-to-19-year-old boys and girls, enrolled in two High Schools in the Region of Murcia (Spain). They answered the Acceptance of Dating Violence questionnaire, which includes two areas, physical and sexual violence, and nine items. In order to assess the psychological area, four items were used from the"Semáforo de la Violencia de Género"(Gender-based Violence Traffic Lights Test). Descriptive and analytic analysis was conducted; the difference was considered statistically signiflcant if p< 0.05. Results: the study Included Z86 participants; 58.4% (n= 167) were female, with a prevalence of 12-to-15-year-old students (n= Z45; 85.7%). Out of the student group, 46.Z% (n= I3Z) claimed that they had an intimate partner relationship currently or in the past. The predominant sexual orientation was heterosexual, with 90.9% (n=Z60). Violence of acceptance in its three areas was very low and conditioned. Men presented attitudes more tolerant towards violence compared with women, in the three areas studied:physical (p= 0.003), sexual (p= 0.005) and psychological (p= 0.001). IHaving a partner or not, age, and sexual orientation, showed no statistically signiflcant differences in any sub-type of this type of violence. Conclusions: there is a very low acceptance of violence in intimate partner relationships among adolescents. An in-depth study of these perceptions can help to understand better the source of this type of violence.