Peer Influence on IPV by Young Adult Males: Investigating the Case for a Social Norms Approach

Abstract

Nearly 32% of women report experiencing physical violence from an intimate partner and more than 8% report being raped by a significant other in their lifetime. Young people’s perceptions that their peers perpetrate relationship violence have been shown to increase the odds of self-reported perpetration. Yet, limited research has been conducted on this relationship as individuals begin to age out of adolescence. The present study sought to examine the link between the perception of peer perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) and self-reported IPV perpetration among a sample of predominately young adult (21-35 years) males. This study also explored the discordance between the perception of peer IPV behavior and self-reported perpetration. Data from 101 male peer dyads (n = 202) were taken from a study on the effects of alcohol and bystander intervention in Atlanta, Georgia. Thirty-six percent (n = 73) of men reported perpetrating physical IPV and 67% (n = 135) reported perpetrating sexual IPV in the past 12 months. Nearly 35% (n = 55) of the sample reported that none of their peers had perpetrated physical IPV, which contradicted their friend’s self-report of physical IPV perpetration. Similarly, 68% (n = 115) of the men perceived none of their peers to have perpetrated sexual IPV, which contradicted their friend’s self-report of sexual IPV perpetration. Discordance variables were significantly associated with self-reported perpetration for both physical (χ² = 152.7, p < .01) and sexual (χ² = 164.4, p < .01) IPV. These results point to an underestimation of peer IPV perpetration among young adult males. Findings suggest a traditional social norms approach to IPV prevention, which seeks to persuade individuals that negative behaviors are less common than perceived, may not be the best approach given a significant number of men believed their friends were nonviolent when they had perpetrated violence.

Keywords

intimate partner violence peer influence social norms theory social learning theory

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Arnett

J. J.

(2000). Emerging adulthood: A theory of development from the late teens through the twenties. American Psychologist, 55, 469-480.

Arnett

J. J.

(2015). Emerging adulthood: The winding road from the late teens through the twenties. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Arriaga

X. B.

Foshee

V. A.

(2004). Adolescent dating violence: Do adolescents follow in their friends’, or their parents’, footsteps? Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 19, 162-184. doi:10.1177/0886260503260247

Bandura

(1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Berkowitz

(2004). The social norms approach: Theory, research, and annotated bibliography. Retrieved from http://www.alanberkowitz.com/articles/social_norms.pdf

Black

M. C.

Basile

K. C.

Breiding

M. J.

Smith

S. G.

Walters

M. L.

Merrick

M. T.

. . . Stevens

M. R.

(2011). The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS): 2010 summary report (pp. 1-106). Atlanta, GA: National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Breiding

M. J.

Black

M. C.

Ryan

G. W.

(2008). Chronic disease and health risk behaviors associated with intimate partner violence—18 U.S. states/territories, 2005. Annals of Epidemiology, 18, 538-544.

Breiding

M. J.

Smith

S. G.

Basile

K. C.

Walter

M. L.

Chen

Merrick

M. T.

(2014). Prevalence and characteristics of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence victimization—National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, United States, 2011. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 63 (SS08), 1-18.

Campbell

J. C.

(2002). Health consequences of intimate partner violence. The Lancet, 359, 1331-1336. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(02)08336-8

10.

Campbell

J. C.

Webster

Koziol-McLain

Block

Campbell

Curry

. . . Wilt

(2003). Assessing risk factors for intimate partner homicide. National Institute of Justice, 250, 14-19.

11.

Capaldi

D. M.

Dishion

T. J.

Stoolmiller

Yoerger

(2001). Aggression toward female partners by at-risk young men: The contribution of male adolescent friendships. Developmental Psychology, 37, 61-73. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.37.1.61

12.

Capaldi

D. M.

Knoble

N. B.

Shortt

J. W.

Kim

H. K.

(2012). A systematic review of risk factors for intimate partner violence. Partner Abuse, 3, 231-280. doi:10.1891/1946-6560.3.2.231

13.

Casey

E. A.

Beadnell

Lindhorst

T. P.

(2009). Predictors of sexually coercive behavior in a nationally representative sample of adolescent males. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 24, 1129-1147.

14.

Dardis

C. M.

Murphy

M. J.

Bill

A. C.

Gidycz

C. A.

(2016). An investigation of the tenets of social norms theory as they relate to sexually aggressive attitudes and sexual assault perpetration: A comparison of men and their friends. Psychology of Violence, 6, 163-171. doi:10.1037/a0039443

15.

DeKeseredy

(1988). Women abuse in dating relationships: The role of male peer support. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Canadian Scholars’ Press.

16.

Desmarais

S. L.

Reeves

K. A.

Nicholls

T. L.

Telford

R. P.

Fiebert

M. S.

(2012). #2 Prevalence of physical violence in intimate relationships, part 2: Rates of male and female perpetration. Partner Abuse, 3(2), 1-10.

17.

Glanz

Rimer

B. K.

Viswanath

(2008). Health behavior and health education: Theory, research, and practice. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

18.

Gwartney-Gibbs

P. A.

Stockard

Bohmer

(1987). Learning courtship aggression: The influence of parents, peers, and personal experiences. Family Relations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Applied Family Studies, 36, 276-282. doi:10.2307/583540

19.

Jarvis

B. G.

(2006). MediaLab (version 2006.1.41). New York, NY: Empirisoft Corporation.

20.

Leonard

K. E.

(2005). Alcohol and intimate partner violence: When can we say that heavy drinking is a contributing cause of violence? Addiction, 100, 422-425. doi:10.1111/j.1360-0443.2005.00994.x

21.

Max

Rice

D. P.

Finkelstein

Bardwell

R. A.

Leadbetter

(2004). The economic toll of intimate partner violence against women in the United States. Violence and Victims, 19, 259-272.

22.

Menard

Weiss

A. J.

Franzese

R. J.

Covey

H. C.

(2014). Types of adolescent exposure to violence as predictors of adult intimate partner violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 38, 627-639. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2014.02.001

23.

National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. (2003). National Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcohol recommended sets of alcohol consumption questions. Bethesda, MD.

24.

Parrott

D. J.

Tharp

A. L.

Swartout

K. M.

Miller

C. A.

Hall

G. C. N.

George

W. H.

(2012). Validity for an integrated laboratory analogue of sexual aggression and bystander intervention. Aggressive Behavior, 38, 309-321.

25.

Paul

L. A.

Gray

M. J.

(2011). Sexual assault programming on college campuses: Using social psychological belief and behavior change principles to improve outcomes. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 12, 99-109. doi:10.1177/1524838010390710

26.

Ramirez

Paik

Sanchagrin

Heimer

(2012). Violent peers, network centrality, and intimate partner violence perpetration by young men. Journal of Adolescent Health, 51, 503-509. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2012.02.016

27.

Reed

Silverman

J. G.

Raj

Decker

M. R.

Miller

(2011). Male perpetration of teen dating violence: Associations with neighborhood violence involvement, gender attitudes, and perceived peer and neighborhood norms. Journal of Urban Health, 88, 226-239. doi:10.1007/s11524-011-9545-x

28.

Roberts

A. L.

McLaughlin

K. A.

Conron

K. J.

Koenen

K. C.

(2011). Adulthood stressors, history of childhood adversity, and risk of perpetration of intimate partner violence. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 40, 128-138. doi:10.1016/j.amepre.2010.10.016

29.

Santana

M. C.

Raj

Decker

M. R.

La Marche

Silverman

J. G.

(2006). Masculine gender roles associated with increased sexual risk and intimate partner violence perpetration among young adult men. Journal of Urban Health, 83, 575-585. doi:10.1007/s11524-006-9061-6

30.

Schwartz

M. D.

DeKeseredy

W. S.

(2000). Aggregation bias and woman abuse: Variations by male peer support, region, language and school type. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 15, 555-565. doi:10.1177/088626000015006001

31.

Smith

C. A.

Greenman

S. J.

Thornberry

T. P.

Henry

K. L.

Ireland

T. O.

(2015). Adolescent risk for intimate partner violence perpetration. Prevention Science, 16, 862-872.

32.

Straus

M. A.

Hamby

S. L.

Boney-McCoy

Sugarman

D. B.

(1996). The Revised Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS2): Development and preliminary psychometric data. Journal of Family Issues, 17, 283-316. doi:10.1177/019251396017003001

33.

Swartout

K. M.

(2013). The company they keep: How peer networks influence male sexual aggression. Psychology of Violence, 3, 157-171.

34.

Tjaden

Thoennes

(2000). Extent, nature, and consequences of intimate partner violence: Findings from the National Violence Against Women Survey (Publication No. NCJ 181867). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181867.pdf

35.

Whitaker

D. L.

Haileyesus

Swahn

Saltzman

L. S.

(2007). Differences in frequency of violence and reported injury between relationships with reciprocal and nonreciprocal intimate partner violence. Research and Practice, 9, 941-947.