Relationship between childhood abuse and dating violence perpetration and victimization among medical college students / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#The purpose of the current study was to determinate the prevalence of dating violence perpetration and victimization and to examine its relationship with childhood abuse among medical college students.@*Methods@#Cluster sampling survey was carried out among 3 727 freshmen and sophomores in two medical colleges from Anhui Province. Information with general demographic variables, childhood abuse and dating violence was obtained. Logistic regression was used to identify the relationship of different types of childhood abuse and dating violence after controlled for confounding factors.@*Results@#The rate of dating violence perpetration and victimization was 37.8% and 27.8%, respectively. Female students had higher childhood emotional abuse experience (61.9%) than male students (51.6%), while male students had higher childhood physical and sexual abuse (28.2% and 19.4%) than females (24.3% and 10.5%) (χ2=33.84，6.33，52.97，P<0.01). Results showed that increased dating violence perpetration [OR(95%CI)=1.71(1.48-1.98),1.55(1.33-1.82),1.75(1.43-2.15)]and victimization [OR(95%CI)=1.84(1.43-2.16),1.59(1.34-1.87),1.62(1.32-2.00)](P<0.01) among individuals with physical, emotional and sexual abuse after controlling for confounding variables. No gender difference was found within other groups in the relationship between childhood abuse and dating violence(P>0.05).@*Conclusion@#Childhood abuse experiences are associated with higher risk of dating violence perpetration and victimization among college students. Reducing childhood abuse is beneficial to the prevention and control of dating violence among medical college students.