Assessing the Effects of Witnessed Parental Conflict and Guilt on Dating Violence Perpetration among South Korean College Students

Abstract

Aggression in dating relationships is a serious problem that can have long-term negative consequences. While research had been increasing in western societies concomitant with an increasing awareness of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration, studies in Asian societies are still few and far between. This paper examines dating violence perpetration among college students in South Korea. Overall violence, emotional, and physical violence are examined respectively. Witnessed parental conflict is used as the main explanatory variable consistent with much of the literature on intimate partner violence perpetration, and also examines the effect of the self-conscious emotion of guilt on dating violence perpetration. Guilt had been shown in the psychological literature to be prosocial and adaptive, but its role has been largely ignored in the IPV and aggression literature. Both its direct and moderating effects on dating violence are examined. Anonymous surveys were administered to college students in four universities across four cities and four regions in South Korea. Three hundred and thirty students who have had a dating experience are included in the analyses. Results show that both witnessed parental conflict and guilt are independently related to dating violence overall, and also to emotional and physical violence. Guilt moderates the effect of witnessed parental conflict on emotional but not physical violence. A closer examination of the role of self-conscious emotions on dating aggression is important. The results extend the generally western theories of dating violence to South Korea and provide evidence of the relevance of these theories cross-culturally.