Violence in adolescent dating relationships

What theories explain the origin and causes of violence in young couples?

Many young people and adolescents do not pay much attention to violence in their relationships; they tend to believe that it is a problem that only affects adults. However, important etiological factors of gender-based violence occurring in adult couples may appear during courtship.

Violence in young couples: why does it occur?

Dating violence is a problem that affects all ages, races, social classes and religions. It is a social and health problem that, due to its high incidence, has currently produced an important social alarm due to the seriousness of the facts and the negative consequences.

The concept of violence in adolescent dating relationships has been defined by various authors. International research uses the term "dating aggression and/or dating violence"; in Spain, the most commonly used term is "violencia en las relaciones pareja adolescentes" (violence in adolescent relationships). violence in adolescent dating relationships o dating violence.

Defining this type of violence

Ryan Shorey, Gregory Stuart, and Tara Cornelius define dating violence as those behaviors that involve physical, psychological, or sexual aggression between partners in a dating relationship.. Other authors emphasize that it is violence that involves any attempt to dominate or control a person physically, psychologically and/or sexually, causing some kind of harm.

Required reading: "The 30 signs of psychological abuse in a relationship".

From the psychological point of view, several authors have attempted to explain the causes of this violence in adolescent couple relationships. Although there are currently few studies that have theoretically addressed the origin and maintenance of violence in these couples, there is a certain tendency to explain it from classical theories of aggressiveness and aggression, there is a certain tendency to explain it from classical theories about aggressiveness or linked to ideas about gender violence in adult couples.

The following are some of the most relevant theories and theoretical models, although not all of them, to shed some light on this problem.

Attachment Theory

John Bowlby (1969) proposes that people shape their relationship style from the interactions and relationships they established during childhood with the main attachment figures (mother and father). These interactions influence both the onset and the development of aggressive behavior..

According to this theory, adolescents from homes in which they observed and/or suffered maltreatment, who show problems in regulating their emotions, low problem-solving skills and/or lower self-confidence, aspects that may also be due to the above, would be more likely to establish conflictive relationships.

From this perspective, aggression in adolescence would originate from negative childhood experiences, such as aggressive behaviors in thesuch as aggressive parental behavior, child abuse, insecure attachment, etc., and at the same time would influence the occurrence of dysfunctional patterns in adulthood. However, we cannot ignore the fact that personal experiences entail a process of individual elaboration that would allow modifying these patterns.

Going deeper: "Attachment Theory and the parent-child bond".

Social Learning Theory

Proposed by Albert Bandura in 1973 and centered on the concepts of modeling and social learning, explains how learning in childhood is produced through the imitation of what we observe..

Aggressive behaviors in the adolescent couple relationship, would be produced by learning them either by personal experience or by witnessing relationships in which there is violence. Therefore, people who experience or are exposed to violence will show a higher probability of displaying violent behaviors compared to those who have not experienced or are exposed to violence. compared to those who have not experienced or have been exposed to violence.

However, we must consider that each person carries out his or her own construction process on his or her experience and is not limited exclusively to copying the conflict resolution strategies of the parents. In addition, Some studies have found that not all adolescents who have perpetrated or have been victims of partner aggression as children experienced or witnessed aggressive behavior in their homes, among their friends or with previous partners. in their childhood experienced or witnessed aggressive behavior in their homes, among their friends or with previous partners.

Feminist Perspective

Authors such as Lenore Walker (1989) explain that intimate partner violence is rooted in unequal social distribution based on gender, which produces greater power for men.which produces greater power for men over women. According to this perspective, women are seen as objects of control and domination by the patriarchal system through the principles of social learning theory, the sociocultural values of patriarchy and gender inequality, transmitted and learned at the individual level. Gender violence is violence whose purpose is to maintain control and/or dominance in an unequal relationship, in which both partners have received different socialization.

This theoretical perspective has been adapted to violence in adolescent relationships, considering the multiple evidences of the influence exerted by traditional belief systems in gender roles, both in the appearance and maintenance of violence. This adaptation explains and analyzes why the aggressions committed by boys tend to be more serious, and analyzes the possible differences between both genders, for example with respect to the consequences.

Social Exchange Theory

Proposed by George C. Homans (1961), indicates that people's motivation lies in obtaining rewards and reducing or eliminating costs in their relationships.. Thus, a person's behavior will vary according to the amount and type of reward he or she believes he or she will receive.

Therefore, violence in intimate partner relationships is used as a way to reduce the costs of the relationship, violence in intimate partner relationships is used as a way of reducing costs, gaining greater control and power through aggression.The aggressor's quest for control and power is a way of gaining greater control and power through aggression. The aggressor's search for control would be related to the reduction of another of the possible costs of relationships, uncertainty, not knowing what the other is thinking, what he/she is doing, where he/she is, etc. Along these lines, the lower the reciprocity in a given interaction, the greater the probability of emotional behaviors based on anger or violence.

In turn, such behaviors will make the individual feel at a disadvantage and increase the likelihood that the interaction will become more dangerous and violent. Thus the main benefit of violence is gaining dominance over another individual, and the likelihood that a violent exchange will end increases when the costs of violent behavior are greater than the benefits it produces.

Cognitive-Behavioral Approach

Focuses the explanation of violence in intimate partner relationships on cognitions and cognitive processes. cognitions and cognitive processes, emphasizing that people seek consistency between their thoughts and between their thoughts and behaviors.. The presence of cognitive distortions or inconsistencies between these, will produce negative emotions that may lead to the occurrence of violence.

However, the cognitive-behavioral approach has focused more on explaining the cognitive distortions that occur in aggressors, for example, when faced with the same situation in which the partner is not present, the aggressor will show a greater tendency to think that his partner has not waited for him at home in order to annoy him or as a way of disrespecting him, which will produce negative emotions, while a person who is not an aggressor will think that this is because his partner is busy or having fun and will produce positive emotions and will be happy about it.

Ecological Model

It was proposed by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1987) and adapted by White (2009) to explain violence in intimate partner relationships. socio-ecological model. It explains violence in intimate partner relationships through four levels ranging from the most general to the most concrete: social, community, interpersonal and individual. At each of these levels there are factors that increase or decrease the risk of perpetration of violence or victimization..

Thus, violent behaviors in a couple's relationship would be located in this model at the individual level and would develop due to the previous influence of the other levels. This influence of the various levels comes from the traditional view of the division of power in society in favor of men, as in Feminist Theory.

It states that violent behaviors against partners are influenced by beliefs at the social level. (e.g., the distribution of work for men and women, sexual division of power), at the community level (such as the integration of gender-differentiated social relations embedded in schools, workplace, social institutions, etc.), at the interpersonal level (such as the beliefs of both partners about what the relationship should be like), and at the individual level (e.g., what the individual thinks about what is "right" or wrong in a relationship). Those behaviors that fail to meet such gendered expectations will increase the likelihood of violent behaviors and will use such beliefs to justify the use of violence.

Conclusions

Currently there are several theories or perspectives, there has been some scientific progress in this field and new research has been interested in explaining violence in adolescent romantic relationships, revising traditional theories and those theories that focus on any type of interpersonal violence.

However, despite recent scientific progress in this area, there are still many unknowns to be answered, many unknowns remain to be solved in order to get to know both individual and relational factors about the origin and relational factors that determine the origin, causes and maintenance of dating violence. This advance would help adolescents both to identify if they suffer violence by their partner and to prevent its occurrence, as well as to identify those factors that can cause gender violence in adult couples and to start its prevention from adolescence.

Referencias bibliográficas:

• Fernández-Fuertes, A. A. (2011). La prevención de comportamientos agresivos en parejas adolescentes jóvenes. In R. J. Carcedo, & V. Guijo, Violencia en las parejas adolescentes y jóvenes: Cómo entenderla y prevenirla. (pp. 87-99). Salamanca: Amarú Ediciones.
• Gelles, R. J. (2004). Factores sociales. In J. Sanmartín, (Eds.), El laberinto de la Violencia. Causas, tipos y efectos. (pp. 47-56.). Barcelona: Ariel.
• R.C. Shorey, G.L. Stuart, T.L. Cornelius (2011) Dating Violence and Substance Use in College Students: A review of the Literature. Aggressive and Violent Behavior, 16 (2011), pp. 541–550 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2011.08.003
• Smith, P.H., White, J.W., & Moracco, K.E. (2009). Becoming who we are: A theoretical explanation of gendered social structures and social networks that shape adolescent interpersonal aggression. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 33(1), 25-29.
• Walker, L. (1989). Psychology and Violence against women. American Journal of Psychological Association, 44(4), 695-702.
• Wekerle, C., & Wolfe, D. A. (1998). The role of child maltreatment and attachment style in adolescent relationship violence. Development and Psychopathology, 10, 571-586.