Personality characteristics of a sample of violent adolescents against their partners

Background: The study of intimate partner violence has historically focused on violence perpetrated on females by males, but recent research suggests that, at least in teenage couples, the difference between genders is decreasing or even reversing. The objective of this study is to analyze the personality characteristics of adolescents who are violent with their partners. The sample consisted of 430 subjects (229 girls and 201 boys), between 14 and 19 years (M =16.18, SD = 1.81), middle or high school students, which completed the Personality Assessment Inventory-Adolescents and the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory. Results: The results show that girls have higher personality scores on the scales that show problems of internal behavior (depression and anxiety), while boys show higher scores on the scales of external behavior problems (antisocial behavior and drug use). Through a regression analysis, the results show predictive weights in the aggression traits (ß= .331, p < .001), antisocial characteristics (ß = .202, p < .001), and mania (ß = .185, p < .05), as the scores on the scale of violence perpetrated increase in girls. For boys, personality variables do not seem to have such a decisive weight to explain the violence committed, since only heat and alcohol problems represent 5.4% of the variance found. These differences between boys and girls should be analyzed in future studies and, if the findings are maintained, taken into account when developing programs to prevent gender-based violence in adolescents. Conclusions: The results of this study show how the personality characteristics have a differential weight in the explanation of the teen dating aggression according to the gender of the aggressors, with a greater relevance in the prediction of the aggressive behaviors committed by the girls.(AU)

Análisis del autoconcepto en las víctimas de violencia de género entre adolescentes / Analysis of self-concept in victims of gender based violence among adolescents

Resumen El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar el autoconcepto en las víctimas de violencia de género entre adolescentes. Habiéndose constatado una menor autoestima en las víctimas de este tipo de violencia, se pretende comprobar si sucede lo mismo con el componente cognitivo de la visión que cada uno tenemos de nosotros mismos y que constituye el autoconcepto. Se ha utilizado una muestra compuesta por 266 adolescentes españoles con edades comprendidas entre los 14 y 19 años, que cursan estudios de Enseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria y Bachillerato. Se observa interacción significativa del género y la edad con el autoconcepto en adolescentes que sufren violencia en su relación, y las chicas con edades comprendidas entre los 16-17 años son el grupo de mayor vulnerabilidad. Son ellas las que presentan más bajo autoconcepto emocional y físico; así se constata que a medida que aumenta la edad, la prevalencia de este tipo de violencia se hace mayor. De cara a prevenir y paliar los efectos de la violencia de pareja en adolescentes, los programas de prevención deben incluir den tro de sus áreas de actuación acciones de educación emocional, que ayuden a mejorar el autoconcepto emocional de las víctimas.

Abstract This paper seeks to analyse self-concept in gender-based violence victims amongst adolescents. Having noticed a lower self-esteem in the victims of this type of violence, the authors wanted to verify whether the same effect takes place with the cognitive component of the vision that we each have of ourselves, which constitutes the self-concept. The popu lation sample consisted of 266 Spanish adolescents aged between 14 and 19 years attending middle school or high school. A significant interaction is observed between gender and age and self-concept in adolescents that suffer violence in their relationship. Similarly, girls aged 16-17 are the most vulnerable group. The latter have the lowest emotional and physical self-concept. Thus, it is corroborated that the prevalence of this type of violence becomes greater as age increases. In order to prevent and mitigate the effects of gender-based violence on adolescents, prevention programs must include emotional education aspects within their areas of action, so as to help improve the emotional self-concept of the victims.