Reciprocal involvement in adolescent dating aggression: An Italian–Spanish study

Abstract

This study aimed to: (1) analyse the association of different patterns of reciprocal involvement in dating aggression (reciprocal psychological and physical aggression; reciprocal psychological aggression; non-aggressive individuals) with different qualities of romantic relationship; and (2) compare results in two European countries, Italy and Spain. Participants were 304 adolescents (141 Italy, 163 Spain) with a current dating relationship. Results in both countries showed that adolescents involved in reciprocal psychological and physical aggression are more likely to have higher levels of couple conflict and power imbalance as compared to the reciprocal psychological aggressive group and to the non-aggressive individuals. Besides, adolescents involved in reciprocal psychological aggression are more likely to have lower levels of support as compared to the non-aggressive individuals. Discussion is focused on different patterns of reciprocal involvement differentiated in relation to level of aggression, conflict and power imbalance.

Keywords:

• Dating aggression
• Reciprocal involvement
• Romantic relationship quality
• Adolescence
• Cross-cultural comparison

Acknowledgments

This research was financed by the Italian Ministry of Education and Research (Bilateral special action project AIIS0518EE/2006) and by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (HI2005-0452).