Intimate Partner Violence in Adolescence and Young Adulthood – Attitudes, Trajectories and Perpetration

About the project

The overall aim of the project is to increase knowledge about intimate partner violence (IPV) among young people in general, and about young IPV perpetrators specifically. The dissertation project examines attitudes toward partner violence, as well as the prevalence, frequency, and severity of the violence. It also explores developmental pathways for young IPV perpetrators.

The project is largely theory-driven and is based on Situational Action Theory (SAT). The focus lies on the interaction between individual characteristics and context in relation to partner violence, and in which situations violence occurs in young relationships. The dissertation is a compilation thesis consisting of four sub-studies.

Two of the sub-studies focus on young people's attitudes toward partner violence and investigate questions such as: what do young people consider to be violence, why/why not, and who is perceived to be responsible for the occurrence of violence, as well as whether violence can be justified in specific situations. Factors that may influence attitudes that justify partner violence are also examined, as well as gender differences.

One study uses longitudinal self-report data and the other uses qualitative interview data. The remaining two sub-studies focus on young IPV perpetrators and examine patterns of violent behavior, with an emphasis on prevalence, frequency, and severity of violence.

They also explore whether it is possible to identify different groups of IPV perpetrators and what characteristics these perpetrators have. Gender differences are also studied in these two sub-studies. Both of these studies are based on longitudinal self-report data.