Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Do Gender And Relationship Composition Affect College Students’ Perceptions Of Intimate Partner Violence Severity?, Jasmine Owarish-Gross

Senior Theses and Projects

Previous research has examined college students’ opinions about the severity of physical abuse in heterosexual, lesbian, and gay couples, but not their opinions regarding the severity of psychological and sexual abuse in the context of these relationships. The main aims of this study were to examine whether participant gender and relationship composition (i.e., heterosexual, lesbian, and gay couples) affected college students’ opinions about the severity of physical, psychological, and sexual intimate partner violence (IPV), if abuse in opposite-sex relationships was perceived as more severe than abuse in same-sex relationships, and if prior exposure to IPV was associated with lower IPV …