Who Perpetrates Teen Dating Violence?

  posted by Eric Ross, Ph.D.

According to two female sociology researchers, Carrie Mulford, Ph.D., and Peggy C. Giordano, Ph.D., who reviewed several recent studies for the National Institute of Justice, adolescent girls in the romantic relationships are far more likely to be sole perpetrators of physical violence than the boys (we use these terms in an old-fashioned, parental way, as the parties in such romantic relationships are still teenagers, becoming young adults.)

How the girls see it  they reported that they (the girls) were some 4.2 times more likely to be a sole perpetrator of violence than boys.

How the boys see it  boys reported that the girls were on average 6.6 times more likely to be a sole perpetrator of violence.

How the researchers see it  when researchers videotaped young couples working on problem-solving tasks  the girls were on average 4.1 times more likely to be a sole perpetrator of violence. If the boy was attacked and retaliated in a physical way, it was deemed "mutual violence."

This is not a small problem: According to the 2007 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, approximately 10 percent of adolescents nationwide reported being the victim of physical violence at the hands of a romantic partner during the previous year.[1]

The graph by National Institute of Justice: http://www.nij.gov/journals/261/who-perpetrates.htm

evidence and facts do not matter, as long as the old
demagogue Joe Biden can fool a few people all the time
and buy their votes with the taxpayer's money

The problem of aggressive behavior in girls is even more serious because it is highly politicized by professional demagogues, such as U.S. VP Joseph Biden, who frames the problem of intimate violence as "violence against women," despite data, which irrefutably shows that it is "violence by women" or "mutual violence." In his recent "1 is 2 many" Public Service Announcement (PSA) -- another demagogic stratagem in a series launched to woo women voters into his camp, Biden's PSA states: "Vice President Biden is focusing his longstanding commitment to reducing violence against women specifically on teens and young women ages 16-24." Here we go again: evidence does not matter, as long as the old Joe can fool a few people all the time.

SOURCES:
Teen Dating Violence: A Closer Look at Adolescent Romantic Relationships 
by Carrie Mulford, Ph.D., and Peggy C. Giordano, Ph.D.  National Institute of Justice.
Graph: Who Perpetrates Teen Dating Violence? publisher: National Institute of Justice.

For your convenience, we include the authors' synopsis of their study below:

The authors reviewed the findings from three studies that examined who (boys, girls or both) commits violence in teen dating relationships.

In the Toledo adolescent relationship study, which interviewed more than 1,300 seventh, ninth and 11th graders, 13 percent of girls in physically aggressive relationships reported that boys were the sole perpetrators, 36 percent said they were the sole perpetrators, and 51 percent reported both they and their partner committed aggressive acts during the relationship. Six percent of the boys in physically aggressive relationships said they were the sole perpetrators, 47 percent said girls were the sole perpetrators, and 47 percent reported mutual aggression.

In the Suffolk County study of dating aggression in Long Island, N.Y., high schools, 5 percent of girls in physically aggressive relationships reported that boys were the sole perpetrators, 28 percent said they were the sole perpetrators, and 65 percent reported both they and their partner committed aggressive acts during the relationship. Five percent of the boys in physically aggressive relationships said they were the sole perpetrators, 27 percent said girls were the sole perpetrators, and 66 percent reported mutual aggression.

In the Oregon youth couples study, which videotaped teen couples while they performed problem-solving tasks, researchers observed that in 8 percent of the physically aggressive relationships, boys were the sole perpetrators; in 33 percent of the physically aggressive relationships, girls were the sole perpetrators; and in 58 percent there was mutual aggression.