Dating Violence and the Impact of Technology: Examining the Lived Experiences of Sorority Members

Abstract

Dating violence (DV) is pervasive on college campuses with far-reaching health implications. We examined 70 sorority members’ lived experiences with DV and explored the role of technology. Experience, perpetration, exposure, support systems, and conceptualization of DV were assessed, and sorority members engaged in small focus groups to examine their lived experiences. Emerging themes included (a) normalization of unhealthy behaviors, (b) technology and the experience of violence, and (c) sources of support and coping. Findings included significant correlations between the experience and perpetration of DV. Results highlight the need for peer intervention and prevention programming and infusing technology in constructive ways.

Keywords

dating violence technology college women sorority Teen Screen for Dating Violence

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abramsky

Watts

C. H.

Garcia-Moreno

Devries

Kiss

Ellsberg

Jansen

H. A.

Heise

(2011). What factors are associated with recent intimate partner violence? Findings from the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence. BMC Public Health, 11(1), Article 109. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-11-109

Baker

C. K.

Carreño

P. K.

(2016). Understanding the role of technology in adolescent dating and dating violence. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(1), 308–320. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10826-015-0196-5

Basile

K. C.

Clayton

H. B.

DeGue

Gilford

J. W.

Vagi

K. J.

Suarez

N. A.

Zwald

M. L.

Lowry

(2020). Interpersonal violence victimization among high school students—Youth risk behavior survey, United States, 2019. MMWR Supplements, 69(1), 28–37. https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su6901a4

Beeble

M. L.

Bybee

Sullivan

C. M.

(2010). The impact of resource constraints on the psychological well-being of survivors of intimate partner violence over time. Journal of Community Psychology, 38, 943–959. https://doi.org/10.1002/jcop.20407

Bonomi

Anderson

Nemeth

Bartle-Haring

Buettner

Schipper

(2012). Dating violence victimization across the teen years: Abuse frequency, number of partners, and age at first occurrence. Biomed Central Public Health, 12, Article 637. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-637

Bookwala

Frieze

I. H.

Smith

Ryan

(1992). Predictors of dating violence: A multivariate analysis. Violence and Victims, 7(4), 297–311. https://doi.org/10.1891/0886-6708.7.4.297

Brown

A. L.

Banyard

V. L.

Moynihan

M. M.

(2014). College students as helpful bystanders against sexual violence gender, race, and year in college moderate the impact of perceived peer norms. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 38, 350–362. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684314526855

Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (2016). Preventing teen dating violence. https://www.cdc.gov/injury/features/dating-violence/index.html

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2012). Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2011. MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 61(4), Article 10. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6104.pdf

10.

Christensen

T. M.

Brumfield

K. A.

(2010). Phenomenological designs: The philosophy of phenomenological research. In Sheperis

C. J.

Young

J. S.

Daniels

M. H.

(Eds.), Counseling research: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methods (pp. 135–150). Pearson.

11.

Creswell

Plano Clark

(2010). Designing and conducting mixed methods research (2nd ed.). SAGE.

12.

David-Ferdon

Hertz

M. F.

(2007). Electronic media, violence, and adolescents: An emerging public health problem. Journal of Adolescent Health, 41, S1–S5. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2007.08.020

13.

Draucker

C. B.

Martsolf

D. S.

(2010). The role of electronic communication technology in adolescent dating violence. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Nursing, 23(3), 133–142. http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6171.2010.00235.x

14.

Duerksen

K. N.

Woodin

E. M.

(2021). Cyber dating abuse victimization: Links with psychosocial functioning. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(19–20), NP10077–NP10105https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260519872982.

15.

Edwards

K. M.

Dardis

C. M.

Gidycz

C. A.

(2011). Women’s disclosure of dating violence: A mixed methodological study. Feminism and Psychology, 22(4), 507–517. http://doi.org/10.1177/0959353511422280

16.

Emelianchik-Key

Hays

D. G.

Hill

(2018). Initial development of the teen screen for dating violence: Exploratory factor analysis, Rasch model, and psychometric data. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 51(1), 16–31. http://doi.org/10.1080/07481756.2017.1395707

17.

Erdem

Sahin

(2017). Undergraduates’ attitudes toward dating violence: Its relationship with sexism and narcissism. International Journal of Higher Education, 6(6), 91–105. http://doi.org/10.5430/ijhe.v6n6p91

18.

Erikson

(1968). Youth: Identity and crisis. WW Norton & company.

19.

Exner

Cummings

(2011). Implications for sexual assault prevention: College students as prosocial bystanders. Journal of American College Health, 59, 655–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2010.515633

20.

Foo

Margolin

(1995). A multivariate investigation of dating aggression. Journal of Family Violence, 10, 351–377. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02110711

21.

Forbes

G. B.

Adams-Curtis

L. E.

Pakalka

A. H.

White

K. B.

(2006). Dating aggression, sexual coercion, and aggression-supporting attitudes among college men as a function of participation in aggressive high school sports. Violence Against Women, 12(5), 441–455. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801206288126

22.

Gámez-Guadix

Borrajo

Calvete

(2018). Partner abuse, control and violence through internet and smartphones: Characteristics, evaluation and prevention. Psychologist’s Papers, 39(3), 218–227. https://doi.org/10.23923/pap.psicol2018.2874

23.

Horowitz

Gerson

(2002). Observation and interviewing: Options and choices in qualitative research. In May

(Ed.), Qualitative research: An international guide to issues in practice (pp. 200–224). SAGE; American Sociological Review.

24.

Hunnicutt

K. H.

(1998). Women and violence on campus. In Hoffman

A. M.

Schuh

J. H.

Fenske

R. H.

(Eds.), Violence on campus: Defining the problems, strategies for action (pp. 149–168). Jones & Bartlett Publishers.

25.

Kann

Kinchen

Shanklin

S. L.

Flint

S. L.

Hawkins

Harris

W. A.

Lowry

Olsen

E. O.

McManus

Chyen

Whittle

Taylor

Demissie

Brener

Thornton

Moore

Zaza

(2014). Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 2013. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss6304.pdf

26.

Knowledge Networks. (2011). 2011 college dating violence and abuse poll. Liz Claiborne, Inc. http://www.loveisrespect.org/pdf/College_Dating_And_Abuse_Final_Study.pdf

27.

Korchmaros

J. D.

Ybarra

M. L.

Langhinrichsen-Rohling

Boyd

Lenhart

(2013). Perpetration of teen dating violence in a networked society. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 16(8), 561–567. http://doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2012.0627

28.

Krebs

Lindquist

Berzofsky

Shook-Sa

Peterson

Planty

Stroop

(2016). Campus climate survey validation study final technical report . Bureau of Justice Statistics Research and Development Series.

29.

Marganski

Melander

(2015). Intimate partner violence victimization in the cyber and real world examining the extent of cyber aggression experiences and its association with in-person dating violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 33(7), 1071–1095. http://doi.org/10.1177/0886260515614283

30.

McMahon

Stepleton

(2018). Undergraduate exposure to messages about campus sexual assault: Awareness of campus resources. Journal of College Student Development, 59(1), 110–115. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2018.0008

31.

Mechanic

M. B.

Weaver

T. L.

Resick

P. A.

(2008). Mental health consequences of intimate partner abuse: A multidimensional assessment of four different forms of abuse. Violence Against Women, 14(6), 634–654. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801208319283

32.

Messerschmidt

J. W.

(2012). Gender, heterosexuality, and youth violence: The struggle for recognition. Rowman & Littlefield.

33.

Mohler-Kuo

Dowdall

G. W.

Koss

M. P.

Wechsler

(2004). Correlates of rape while intoxicated in a national sample of college women. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 65(1), 37–45. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsa.2004.65.37

34.

Murray

C. E.

Wester

K. L.

Paladino

D. A.

(2008). Dating violence and self-injury among undergraduate college students: Attitudes and experiences. Journal of College Counseling, 11, 42–57. http://doi.org/1002/j.2161-1882.2008.tb00023.x

35.

Niolon

P. H.

Kearns

Dills

Rambo

Irving

Armstead

Gilbert

(2017). Preventing intimate partner violence across the lifespan: A technical package of programs, policies, and practices. National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

36.

O’Campo

Zhang

Y. J.

Omand

Velonis

Yonas

Minh

Smylie

(2017). Conceptualization of intimate partner violence: Exploring gender differences using concept mapping. Journal of Family Violence, 32(3), 367–382. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-016-9830-2

37.

Patton

M. Q.

(2002). Qualitative research and evaluation methods (3rd ed.). SAGE.

38.

Sabina

(2014). Campus and college victim responses to sexual assault and dating violence: Disclosure, service, utilization, and service provision. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 15, 201–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/1524838014521322

39.

Straus

M. A.

(2010). Thirty years of denying the evidence on gender symmetry in partner violence: Implications for prevention and treatment. Partner Abuse, 1, 332–362. https://doi.org/10.1891/1946-6560.1.3.332

40.

Sunday

Kline

Labruna

Pelcovitz

Salzinger

Kaplan

(2011). The role of adolescent physical abuse in adult intimate partner violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 26(18), 3773–3789. http://doi.org/10.1177/0886260511403760

41.

Swahn

M. H.

Alemdar

Whitaker

D. J.

(2010). Nonreciprocal and reciprocal dating violence and injury occurrence among urban youth. Western Journal of Emergency Medicine, 11(3), 264–268.

42.

Whitaker

D. J.

Murphy

C. M.

Eckhardt

C. I.

Hodges

A. E.

Cowart

(2013). Effectiveness of primary prevention efforts for intimate partner violence. Partner Abuse, 4(2), 175–195. https://doi.org/10.1891/1946-6560.4.2.175

43.

Windle

Mrug

(2009). Cross-gender violence perpetration and victimization among early adolescents and associations with attitudes toward dating conflict. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 38(3), 429–439. https://doi.10.1007/s10964-008-9328-1

44.

Wood

Voth Schrag

Busch-Armendariz

(2018). Mental health and academic impacts of intimate partner violence among IHE-attending women. Journal of American College Health, 68(3), 286–293. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2018.1546710

45.

Woodlock

(2017). The abuse of technology in domestic violence and stalking. Violence Against Women, 23(5), 584–602. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216646277

46.

Zweig

J. M.

Dank

Yahner

Lachman

(2013). The rate of cyber dating abuse among teens and how it related to other forms of teen dating violence. Journal of Youth Adolescence, 42, 1063–1077. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-013-9922-8