Beliefs about dating violence and abuse were studied in a sample of 298 undergraduate and graduate students. After reading 15 vignettes, respondents were asked to rate how violent and abusive a depicted incident was, what they thought was likely to happen to the relationship in the future, and what should happen following the incident. The depicted incidents varied along eight dimensions: nature of the act, consequences, gender of perpetrator, gender of victim, extent of relationship, alcohol consumption, extent of provocation, and history of violence. Personal experiences with violence were also assessed. Beliefs about what was likely to happen to the relationship and what should happen were influenced by both vignette characteristics (nature of the act, gender of perpetrator, and outcome) and perceived violence and abusiveness, as well as respondent characteristics.
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