Digital Media Use and Dating Abuse: An Exploration of Johnson’s Typology of Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

This paper explores the use of digital media by undergraduate students in selected universities in Nairobi City County in perpetrating different types of violence as outlined in Michael Johnson’s typology of intimate partner violence. Drawing data from a larger study, which used a cross sectional descriptiveresearch design the findings presented here reveal certain important trends and patterns relating to perpetration of Cyber Dating Abuse (CDA). Quantitative data was collected through questionnaires from 315 respondents who were randomly sampled for the study. Additionally, 48 respondents providedqualitative data through focus group discussion. In line with Johnson’s typology of intimate partner violence, data analysis reveals that while the students reportedly used a range of digital media, WhatsApp was the most used in perpetrating intimate partner violence and that the violence perpetrated covered all the four forms of abuse. Of these four, coercive control violence which involved monitoring and control was the most pervasive. The paper concludes that the proliferation and ready availability of different types of user-friendly digital technologies and social networks has enabled both males and females to easily access them and use them in ways that make it possible and, perhaps, easier to perpetrate CDA. The paper recommends the establishment of mentorship programs in universities in Nairobi City County to sensitize them on the negative social character of digital media technology particularly in relation to matters of CDA and how to prevent it.