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Gender Role Attitudes and Male Adolescent Dating Violence Perpetration: Normative Beliefs as Moderators

Journal of Youth and Adolescence volume 45, pages 350–360 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Commonly used dating violence prevention programs assume that promotion of more egalitarian gender role attitudes will prevent dating violence perpetration. Empirical research examining this assumption, however, is limited and inconsistent. The current study examined the longitudinal association between gender role attitudes and physical dating violence perpetration among adolescent boys (n = 577; 14 % Black, 5 % other race/ethnicity) and examined whether injunctive (i.e., acceptance of dating violence) and descriptive (i.e., beliefs about dating violence prevalence) normative beliefs moderated the association. As expected, the findings suggest that traditional gender role attitudes at T1 were associated with increased risk for dating violence perpetration 18 months later (T2) among boys who reported high, but not low, acceptance of dating violence (injunctive normative beliefs) at T1. Descriptive norms did not moderate the effect of gender role attitudes on dating violence perpetration. The results suggest that injunctive norms and gender role attitudes work synergistically to increase risk for dating violence perpetration among boys; as such, simultaneously targeting both of these constructs may be an effective prevention approach.

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Acknowledgments

This study was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Cooperative Agreement Number U81/CCU409964 and by an inter-personnel agency agreement (IPA) between Dr. Reyes and the CDC (13IPA130569) and between Dr. Foshee and the CDC (13IPA1303570). The findings and conclusions in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Conflict of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Author Contributions

HLMR conceived of the study, participated in the theoretical framing, design, measurement, and analytic plan, conducted statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript; VF designed and led the parent study, participated in the theoretical framing, design, measurement, and analytic plan, and helped draft and revise the manuscript; PHN participated in the theoretical framing, interpretation of the study, and helped draft and revise the manuscript; DR assisted in the interpretation of the study and helped draft and revise the manuscript; JH assisted in the interpretation of the study and helped draft and revise the manuscript. All authors read and approved the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Health Behavior, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 319E Rosenau Hall CB# 7440, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7400, USA

    H. Luz McNaughton Reyes & Vangie A. Foshee

  2. Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Phyllis Holditch Niolon, Dennis E. Reidy & Jeffrey E. Hall

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  1. H. Luz McNaughton Reyes
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  2. Vangie A. Foshee
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  3. Phyllis Holditch Niolon
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Correspondence to H. Luz McNaughton Reyes.

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Reyes, H.L.M., Foshee, V.A., Niolon, P.H. et al. Gender Role Attitudes and Male Adolescent Dating Violence Perpetration: Normative Beliefs as Moderators. J Youth Adolescence 45, 350–360 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-015-0278-0

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Keywords

  • Adolescence
  • Dating violence
  • Gender role attitudes
  • Normative beliefs
  • Longitudinal