Atención Primaria www.elsevier.es/ap 0212-6567 © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L. Todos los derechos reservados. Aten Primaria. 2014;46(Espec Cong 1):187-190 SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE Teens and dating: study of factors that in uence attitudes of violence Manuela Ferreira*, Ana Lopes, Graça Aparício, Lidia Cabral, João Duarte Escola Superior de Saúde de Viseu, CI&DETS, Instituto Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal * Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (M. Ferreira). KEYWORDS Adolescents; Dating; Dating violence Abstract Framework: Dating violence is a relevant social problem in adolescent and young adult romantic relationships. Particular attention has begun to be paid to it by the scienti c community in the last two decades. It may involve a sexual, physical and psychological dimension, requiring different prevention and intervention strategies. Objective: To analyse the effect of socio-demographic and contextual variables on attitudes to dating violence. Material and method: This is a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional descriptive and correlational study. Questionnaires to characterise socio-demographics and dating context and the Scale of Attitudes about Dating Violence (SADV), were applied to 243 adolescents attending the 10th, 11th and 12th years of schooling in a Portuguese secondary school. Results: The adolescents are over 17 years in age (40.7%), with a predominance of girls (56.0%). They reside mainly in rural areas with most attending the 10th year. More than half live with their parents (91.7%). The vast majority are Catholic. Nearly all of the participants are dating or have dated. We found statistically signi cant differences in all types of violence with regards to gender, the religion they practice and adolescents who have had sexual relations. The type of violence exerted was mainly psychological. Conclusion: The results point to the need to integrate the topic of dating violence in adolescent education using active methods with the effective participation of everyone involved in the process (adolescents, parents, teachers and health professionals). Only in this way will it be possible to develop healthy emotional relationship skills. © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved. 188 M. Ferreira et al. Introduction Intimate violence is not limited to marital relationships; it is also present in both dating relationships and occasional adolescent relationships. Research has revealed disturbing levels of violence in intimate adolescent relationships. In these situations and in the case of relationships which extend over time, violence tends to increase in frequency and severity, often leading to marital violence.1 Violence in intimate relationships interferes with adolescent physical, psychological, sexual, reproductive and social development with consequences for their physical and social health, not only in the short run, but also in the medium and long run. ...

1. Atención Primaria
www.elsevier.es/ap
0212-6567 © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L. Todos los derechos
reservados.
Aten Primaria. 2014;46(Espec Cong 1):187-190
SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE
Teens and dating: study of factors that in uence attitudes
of violence
Manuela Ferreira*, Ana Lopes, Graça Aparício, Lidia Cabral,
João Duarte
Escola Superior de Saúde de Viseu, CI&DETS, Instituto
Politécnico de Viseu, Viseu, Portugal
* Corresponding author.
E-mail: [email protected] (M. Ferreira).
KEYWORDS
Adolescents;
Dating;
Dating violence
Abstract
Framework: Dating violence is a relevant social problem in
adolescent and young adult romantic
relationships. Particular attention has begun to be paid to it by

2. the scienti c community in the
last two decades. It may involve a sexual, physical and
psychological dimension, requiring
different prevention and intervention strategies.
Objective: To analyse the effect of socio-demographic and
contextual variables on attitudes to
dating violence.
Material and method: This is a quantitative, non-experimental,
cross-sectional descriptive and
correlational study. Questionnaires to characterise socio-
demographics and dating context
and the Scale of Attitudes about Dating Violence (SADV), were
applied to 243 adolescents
attending the 10th, 11th and 12th years of schooling in a
Portuguese secondary school.
Results: The adolescents are over 17 years in age (40.7%), with
a predominance of girls (56.0%).
They reside mainly in rural areas with most attending the 10th
year. More than half live with
their parents (91.7%). The vast majority are Catholic. Nearly all
of the participants are dating or
have dated. We found statistically signi cant differences in all
types of violence with regards to
gender, the religion they practice and adolescents who have had
sexual relations. The type of
violence exerted was mainly psychological.
Conclusion: The results point to the need to integrate the topic
of dating violence in adolescent
education using active methods with the effective participation
of everyone involved in the
process (adolescents, parents, teachers and health
professionals). Only in this way will it be
possible to develop healthy emotional relationship skills.
© 2014 Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.

3. 188 M. Ferreira et al.
Introduction
Intimate violence is not limited to marital relationships; it
is also present in both dating relationships and occasional
adolescent relationships. Research has revealed disturbing
levels of violence in intimate adolescent relationships. In
these situations and in the case of relationships which
extend over time, violence tends to increase in frequency
and severity, often leading to marital violence.1
Violence in intimate relationships interferes with
adolescent physical, psychological, sexual, reproductive
and social development with consequences for their
physical and social health, not only in the short run, but
also in the medium and long run. Dating violence can be
occasional or continuous, committed by one partner or
both in order to control, dominate and have more power
than the other in the relationship. 2 Trivialization is
common and even romanticising some violent acts. 1
However, consequences may range from personal injury,
u n w a n t e d p r e g n a n c y, a b o r t i o n , g y n a e c o l
o g i c a l
complications, sexually transmitted infections, among
others.
There are different forms of dating violence (psycho-
logical, physical and sexual) and different forms of
violence in the same dating relationship may occur. For
example, verbal attacks may come before aphysical
assault. All forms of dating violence have a common goal:
to hurt, humiliate, control and frighten.3 It is a personal
experience characte rized by feelings of shame, which
keeps the vast majority of adolescents from seeking help.

4. The reasons are fear of being blamed, that the secretwill
not be kept, that adults will pressure them to terminate
the relationship, believingthey will not be helped, fear of
parental punish ment. Their main con dants are friends.
However, the vast majority of these friends do not have
the conditions to give due support, either because they
are also involved in abusive relationships or because
they legitimize a set of beliefs that perpetuate the
phenomenon.4
This study sets out to identify factors that influence
attitudes of adolescent dating violence.
Material and method
This is a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional
descriptive and correlational study. Data was collected
through a questionnaire to characterisesocio-demographics
and dating context and the Scale of Attitudes about Dating
Violence. A non-probabilistic, convenience sample
comprised of 243 adolescents attending the 10th, 11th and
12th years of schooling in a Portuguese public school during
the 2012/2013 academic year. Firstly, the protocol of
measuring instruments was submitted to the Portuguese
government’s General Directorate for Curricular Innovation
and Develop ment. Later, permission from the school’s
administrative body was requested and informed consent
from parents and the students themselves was obtained.
Statistical analysis was performed using the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences® (SPSS version 20.0),
allowing descriptive and inferential statistics to be
prepared.
Results
The study sample consists of 243 adolescents who have a

5. minimum age of 15 years and a maximum of 21 with a mean
age of 16.29 years and a standard deviation of 1.02. The
most prevalent age group is over the age of 17. There isa
greater percentage of girls (56.0%) than boys. The
adolescents live mainly in rural areas (71.2%) and are
mostly Portuguese in nationality (95.9%). Regarding their
year of schooling, most are in the 10th year (48.6%). More
than half of the adolescents live with parents (91.7%). The
vast majority of respondents are Catholic (93.0%). More
than half (58.0%) of the adolescents considered that there
is no right age to initiate sexual activity. 66.7% of
respondents have never had sexual relations; and the
minimum age at which the adolescents initiated sexual
relations was 10 years for males and 12 years for females;
4.9% of the adolescents felt pressured to initiate sexual
activity; 71.6% said they were in love with the person they
had had sex with for the first time; 99.4% of teens are
dating or have dated.
As for violence, the highest means, for either boys or
girls, were for psychological violence (33.57 and 53.00
respectively). It was found that there are statistically
significant differences for all types of male and female
violence (P = .000).
The One-Way ANOVA test was used with the aim of
studying the relationship between age and the type of
violence perpetrated by the students. The analysis shows
that male psychological violence presents a higher
average than the othersfor all ages. Students aged 15 have
a higher mean (33.73) in relation to this type of violence,
while students aged 17 or over have a lower mean (24.35)
with regards to male sexual violence. We emphasize that
female sexual violence, especially in participants aged 15
a n d 1 6 , h a s h i g h m e a n v a l u e s ( 3 1 . 0 0 a n d 3
1 . 2 2 ,

6. respectively). There are no statistically significant
differences (P > .05).
The Mann-Whitney U Test was used to try to verify if
there is a relationship between religion and violence
perpetrated by the participants. The results showed that
non-Catholic students had higher means in every type of
violence, especially male sexual violence (M = 158.26).
Female sexual violence also had a considerable mean
(139.09), followed by male psychological violence
(M = 151.21). In the group of Catholic students, the highest
mean was found for female physical violence (M = 121.81),
followed by female psychological violence (M = 121.73).
Statistically signi cant differences were found (P = .027)
with regards to male sexual violence, suggesting that
religion may influence the tendency for male sexual
violence.
The Mann-Whitney U Test was also used to try to check
for a relationship between students who have already had
sexual relations and the type of violence. Thus, students
who have had sexual intercourse were found to have
higher means in every type of violence, especially male
sexual violence (M = 142.72). This was followed by
male and female psychological violence (M = 140.79 and
M = 139.35, respectively), which leads us to state that this
variable in uences the existence of violent behaviour in
dating.
Teens and dating: study of factors that in uence attitudes of
violence 189
Discussion

7. Violence in intimate relationships occurs from adolescence
and throughout adulthood, often in the context of marriage
or cohabitation —starting during dating— and includes
physical, psychological and sexual violence. A significant
number of adolescents experience violence in dating
relationships, often perceiving it as an act without
relevance. From the social point of view, the phenomenon
of violence in romantic relationships is not isolated, being
recognized as something complex that needs an effective
intervention. 5 Intervening means lowering rates of
aggression and the changing attitudes of its justi ability.6
Based on empirical study, it was found that gender was
a variable that interfered with dating violence. Male
participants presented higher means in every type of
violence, with the highest mean value for psychological
violence. Statistically signi cant differences were found
for any type of male and female violence. These results
con rm the evidence found in other studies, such as.7-9
A c c o r d i n g t o t h e s e a u t h o r s , t h e r e a r e s i g
n i f i c a n t
differences in the violence perpetrated by male students
compared to females. Moreover, the same authors report
that male and female psychological violence is the most
obvious, which is in line with data obtained in our study.
Also found that sexual violence is mostly perpetrated by
adolescent males.7 The authors maintain that the boys
had significantly higher levels of tolerance for various
forms of violence, whether these were perpetrated by
boys or girls. This superior legitimacy has been found in
different studies and by different authors,8-10 and has been
explained in particu lar by the fact that boys are socialized
towards more aggressiveness in their interpersonal
relationships.
Another result was that the religion variable in uenced

8. the tendency for male sexual violence. Non-Catholic
students had higher means in all types of violence,
especially male sexual violence. Female sexual violence
a l s o h a d a c o n s i d e r a b l e m e a n , f o l l o w e d b
y m a l e
psychological violence. In the group of Catholic students,
the highest mean value is for physical violence and female
psychological violence.
As for the adolescents’ age, younger ones (aged 15 and
16) have higher rates of violence. In this context, we
emphasize the study developed by11 which shows that the
legitimization of violence appears to be higher among
younger adolescents with lower education and boys who
are educated to be stronger, emotionally inexpressive,
competitive and domineering with regards to their
partners.
Continuing with the results obtained in this study, we
noted the existence of statistically signi cant differences
in all types of violence in adolescents who had already had
sex, especially male sexual violence, followed by male and
female psychological violence. These results corroborate
t h o s e o f 2 i n t h a t t h e a u t h o r s a l s o c o n c l u d
e d t h a t
adolescents, especially males, in secondary school who
have started their sexual activity are more prone to violent
behaviour in romantic relationships. Violence prevention
within intimate relationships presupposes the development
of commu nication skills during adolescents’ educational
process. The debates on violence in general, violence in
intimate relationships and gender equality using active
methods should be part of the curricula and trans-
disciplinary. Only with coherent and consistent educational
policies in these matters will adolescents’ empowerment

9. be achieved, enabling them to say no to all types of
violence.
What we know about the theme
Violence in intimate relationships in adolescence
includes acts of physical, emotional, and sexual
aggression, abuse and other controlling behaviors
during a dating relationship. It happens all around the
world, being so transversal to all cultures, demanding
answers by both citizens, political and judicial power.
What we get out the study
The study reveals that the attitudes of teenagers
towards violence in dating relationships is strongly
in uenced by gender (predominantly males), by the
religion they practice and the fact that they have
already initiated sexual intercourse. The type of
violence mainly exerted was psychological. This set
of variables must be considered in the educational
process of the adolescent.
Funding
The Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology
(FCT) through the project PEst-OE/CED/UI4016/2014, and
the Center for Studies in Education, Technologies and Health
(CI&DETS).
Con icts of interest
The authors declare that there are no con icts of interest.
References
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conflitos nas relações de namoro entre adolescentes. In:

10. Machado C, Gonçalves MM, Almeida L, Simões MR,
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Instrumentos e contextos de avaliação psicológica. Vol. 1.
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2. Caridade S, Machado C. Violência na intimidade juvenil: da
vitimação à perpetração. Análise Psicológica. 2006;4:485-93.
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questões
complexas. Coimbra: Imprensa Universidade de Coimbra; 2010.
4. Associação Portuguesa de Apoio à Vítima. Violência no
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s-os-jovens-que-apresentam-queixa
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6. Ribeiro M. Prevenção primária da violência: construção,
implementação e avaliação de um programa de intervenção em
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Week 7: Quantitative Article Critique
Assignment Guidelines
1. Please keep the 11 questions below in your document
preceding your answer (i.e., don’t delete the question after you
answer it or prepare the paper in a narrative format without the
questions embedded).
2. You don’t need to cite the authors in each of your responses,
it’s clear what article you are referring to.
3. However, any time you include a short quote from the article
in your response (which should be done sparingly), please do

12. provide the page number from the article.
4. Ensure you appropriately paraphrase the material from the
article in your response to each question (use no more than 3-4
of the authors’ words in a row when summarizing information
from the article).
5. All discussions of the study that follow should be in past
tense as the study has already happened (Note the use of was
and were above rather than is and are in the sample text in #1
below).
6. If you didn’t cite any other sources in your critique, besides
the article you critiqued, you can delete the word References at
the bottom of this page as you won’t need a reference list.
Critiqued by:
Date:
Source reference (provide the complete citation of the article
here, using correct APA format, which you are critiquing):
1. Introduce the study by providing a brief summary of the
focus and the research question(s) or purpose for the study.
(“The focus of this study was… There were ___ research
questions: …. No research questions were stated, but the
authors indicated the purpose of the study was….”)
2. Write a bullet point outline (paraphrased) of the main themes
or points the authors discussed in their literature review. (e.g.,
“Emotional intimacy has been shown to influence relationship
satisfaction; Self-disclosure is important for couple’s emotional
intimacy…”)
3. What purpose does a review of the literature serve for a
quantitative research study (Remember this question is not
about this study, it’s about quantitative research studies in

13. general)?
4. Given the purpose of a literature review for quantitative
research you described above, did the authors do a good job
with this? Why or why not?
5. Describe the methods used in this study. Include which
quantitative approach was used (e.g., cross-sectional survey,
longitudinal survey, quasi-experimental, experimental), what
sampling strategy was used, who the participants were [number,
age, gender, race/ethnicity], and how the author(s)
operationalized their variables of interest (In other words, what
measures did they use to assess which variables [“The
researchers used the Beck Depression Inventory-II to assess
depression…”).
6. What kinds of research questions are the methods employed
in this study typically used to answer? This questions refers to
research studies in general (not this study specifically); why
might a researcher choose this design/approach (the approach
you identified in #5)?
7. What are the implications of the sampling method on the
external validity of the study (does the way the selected their
sample and the participants they ended up with compromise to
whom the results of the study will apply?)?
8. Are there any threats to internal validity that the researchers
did a good job of addressing or that they did not address well
(in other words—are there alternate explanations that fit the
results better than the ones the author(s) provided)? Provide
support for your response.
9. What was the goal of the statistical analysis in this study?
Was it to describe frequency and averages, to explore
relationships among variables or to test for differences between
groups? Provide support for your response.
10. Considering the methods used in this study, including the
sampling procedures, operationalization of the variables of
interest and the statistical tests used, did the researchers draw

14. reasonable conclusions based on the results? (In other words,
have their conclusions gone beyond the data they have in hand?)
11. What are the real world implications of the study findings?
Are the results meaningful and important for clinical practice?
To whom might these results apply?
References