Physical and psychological dating violence in young men and women in Chile: results from a 2005 survey of university students

Abstract

Numerous studies have documented high levels of intimate partner violence in Chile. Yet to date, research and prevention/ response programs have focused almost exclusively on cohabiting and married couples. This study presents a comparative analysis of dating violence prevalence in a sample of male and female college students in Chile and describes the contexts in which such violence takes place. On the basis of a survey of students enrolled in general education courses at a large, public university in Santiago during the Winter 2005 term (n = 484 women, 466 men), we find a high prevalence of physical and psychological dating violence, with patterns resembling those documented for other countries. We also find a high prevalence of having witnessed inter-parental violence during childhood. Our results present a compelling case for not continuing to neglect dating violence in Chile and other Latin-American countries; further research in this area and the development and evaluation of prevention programs for youth, could go far in reducing the opportunity for aggression to become an established style of conflict resolution.

Keywords:

• dating violence
• intimate partner violence
• aggression

Acknowledgements

This study is part of a larger project on gender-based violence in youth in Chile. The authors thank the administrators of the university where the survey was conducted for facilitating our access to the General Education courses offered during the Winter term of 2005, and Vaughn Rickert, Psy.D. for his helpful suggestions regarding the questionnaire and study design. They are also thankful to Shrikant Bangdiwala, Ph.D., an anonymous referee, and participants at seminars presented at the University of Chile School of Medicine and Social Science Department (August 2006) for valuable comments on earlier drafts of this article. This project was supported by Award number T32MH019105 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The content of this paper is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institute of Mental Health or the National Institutes of Health.