A Mixed-Method Study on Dating Violence Attitudes and Experiences in Emerging Adulthood

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate to what extent the attitudes towards dating violence in emerging adulthood differ according to gender, perceived parental violence type, and dating violence experiences, conform with the sense-making of emerging adults towards dating violence encounters. Convergent parallel pattern which is one of the mixed method patterns was used in the study. In the quantitative section of the study, 564 emerging adults (298 female-266 male) were reached by convenience sampling method. In the qualitative section of the study, however, there were four female and two male participants who were reached by purposive sampling method. Additionally, in the study, Attitude Towards Dating Violence Scales, Personal Information Forms and Semi-Structured Interview Forms were used. While t-test and one-way analysis of variance ANOVA were used for independent variables in the quantitative section of the research, content analysis was utilized in the qualitative section. According to the results of the study, physical and psychological dating violence attitude scores of males and females who perpetrated violence showed significant differences according to gender. On the other hand, according to the history of dating violence, the attitude scores towards the physical dating violence perpetrated by females differed significantly. According to the perceived parental violence, it was observed that the difference between the mean scores in the attitude scores towards the physical dating violence perpetrated by males was higher in those without a history of parental violence. Self-reflection, views of dating violence/sense-making and reactions to dating violence themes of qualitative section findings were also found to be consistent with quantitative findings.