Dating violence at three time periods: 1976, 1992, and 1996.

Data collected over the past 10 years were used to investigate whether there have been changes in the incidence of violence when dating reported at a large university. Responses to Straus's 1979 Conflict Tactics Scale in 1986 (n = 603), 1992 (n = 414), and 1996 (n = 571) were compared. Analyzes indicated that there has been a reduction in both verbal aggression and violence scores over the 10-yr. period. In addition, the percentage of respondents who reported being in nonviolent relationships increased while the percentage of respondents in the three categories of relationship that include violence (mutual, perpetrator, and victim) decreased. These findings indicate that there may be an over-all reduction in both verbal aggression and violence between dating partners as they attempt to resolve conflicts.

Body dissatisfaction and sexual victimization among college women.

109 white, never-married undergraduate women between the ages of 17 and 24 years completed both a Body Dissatisfaction scale and a sexual coercion scale. Analysis showed no over-all correlation between body-dissatisfaction scores and sexual victimization scores. Since the correlations were as anticipated, the lack of significance may reflect the small group sizes. Women with higher and those with lower body-dissatisfaction scores were not different in mean sexual victimization scores, suggesting that women's body dissatisfaction may not be associated with risk for sexual victimization. There was a significantly higher mean body-dissatisfaction score for women who reported that they had experienced sexual victimization in dating relationships than for women who reported having had no such experience. Perhaps experiencing sexual victimization has a negative effect on how women view their bodies. This study suggests a complex link between sexual victimization and body dissatisfaction in women.

Alcohol consumption and sexual victimization among college women.

842 women enrolled in large health classes offered at a midwestern university completed a health survey from which report of both the women's drinking behavior and their experience with sexual victimization could be excerpted. Both correlations and analysis of variance indicated an association between the amount of alcohol the women reported drinking each week and their over-all experiences with sexual coercion.

Parental divorce and narcissism among college students.

342 women and 225 men, undergraduate students, participated in a study to assess whether experiencing the divorce of one's parents affected narcissistic development. In a larger study on the long-term effects of divorce, these students completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. The analyses indicated that the scores for children from divorced families did not differ from the scores of children from intact families on any of the seven subscales.

Co-sleeping: gender differences in college students' retrospective reports of sleeping with parents during childhood.

161 women and 111 men, Caucasian college students, provided retrospective information about their patterns of sleeping during childhood. The practice of co-sleeping was common, with 33.7% reporting that they co-slept in their parents' room during their first week after birth, 29.4% during the first month after birth, and 27.5% during their second month after birth. In addition, 6.3% of women and 11.9% of men reported that they co-slept during the entire first year after birth. Finally, a sex-specific pattern of co-sleeping was found with more women reporting that they co-slept with their parents during their first week and first month after birth, but a greater percentage of men than women reported that they co-slept with their parents at older ages. It appears that girls are removed from the parents' room at a younger age and more frequently than are boys.

Psychological reactance and violence within dating relationships.

86 male and 127 female undergraduates were classified into either nonviolent or violent groups based on their self-reported conflict-resolution behaviors within their dating relationships. Using the four subscales of Hong's Psychological Reactance Scale to define the dependent variables, multivariate analyses indicated that individuals in mutually violent relationships had significantly higher scores on all four of the reactance subscales than did those in nonviolent relationships. Men had higher scores than women only on the reactance to conformity subscale. These findings may suggest that both partners in violent dating relationships may be more protective of their personal sense of freedom and more sensitive to perceived threats to these freedoms and that psychological reactance as related to interpersonal control may be an important variable in violent behavior.

Divorce and dating violence revisited: multivariate analyses using Straus's conflict tactics subscores.

514 men and 891 women college students provided information concerning behaviors both they and their partners used within the prior six months to resolve conflicts in their relationships. Multivariate analyses assessed whether experiencing the divorce of one's parents would be associated with respondents' report of their own or their partners' conflict behaviors. Students from divorced families reported higher scores for their own behavior on the Violence subscale only, while they reported higher scores for their partners on both the Verbal Aggression and Violence subscales. These results suggest that coming from a divorced family may have lasting effects on later relationships of these individuals, particularly in conflict resolution.

Parental divorce and the change in drinking behavior from high school to college.

192 men and 289 women (college students) provided information about their drinking behavior both currently and in their senior year in high school. These data were analyzed by students' sex and family structure. Currently men drank significantly more than women. No differences for family structure were noted. Students from divorced families drank less currently, while students from intact families drank more currently than they did as seniors in high school. This was true for more men than women. Results support the position that current drinking behavior may be associated with a decrease in parental or adult supervision which is experienced earlier for those whose parents have divorced and later (upon entering college) for those students whose parents have not divorced.

Reasons given by college students for drinking: a discriminant analysis investigation.

Based on self-reported levels of alcohol consumption, 473 college students (295 female and 178 male) were placed into at-risk or not-at-risk groups. Using reasons given for drinking as the independent variables, discriminant analysis procedures were conducted separately on the males and females to determine if a function could be found which would discriminate between the groups. For the female group, 11 of 22 reasons defined a discriminant function which accounted for 36% of the variance between the groups (p < .001). This function was also able to correctly classify 71% of the holdout sample. For the males, five of the 22 reasons defined a discriminant function which accounted for 36% of the variance between the groups (p < .001). This function was able to correctly classify 69% of the holdout sample.

Relationship between egocentrism, alcohol consumption and reasons given for drinking.

University students, 86 men and 141 women, completed a questionnaire from which their level of egocentrism, amount of alcohol consumed, and number of reasons for drinking could be estimated. Analysis supported earlier findings that men consume significantly more alcohol than do women. Both men and women who were rated as having high egocentrism scores gave significantly more reasons for drinking than did the women scoring low on egocentrism. Also, there was a significant correlation between egocentrism and reasons for drinking but not between egocentrism and amount consumed. The correlation was higher between the number of reasons given for drinking and the amount of alcohol consumed. Since men scoring high on egocentrism report the highest consumption, while high-scoring women report the lowest consumption, it is concluded that egocentrism plays an indirect role in the consumption of alcohol and the role it plays is different for men and women.

Parental divorce during childhood and use of violence in dating relationships.

355 women and 173 men university students between the ages of 17 and 23 yr. completed a questionnaire which included Straus's Conflict Tactic Scales, and from which whether the respondents had experienced the divorce of their parents could be assessed. Two hypotheses were tested. First, individuals from divorced families would be more likely to report that violence existed in their current relationship than would individuals from intact families. Second, in those relationships which included violence, individuals from divorced families would report higher levels of violence than would individuals from intact families. Analyses indicated that individuals from divorced families were no more likely to report themselves as experiencing violence in their current relationship than were their cohorts from intact families. However, when the conflict tactic scores for men from divorced, men from intact, women from divorced, and women from intact families were compared, differences were found. Men from divorced families reported levels of violence for themselves that approached significance. Also, men from divorced families reported that their partners' verbal aggression approached significance and that their partners' use of violent behavior reached significance when compared to those of the other groups. These results indicate that having experienced a divorce in one's family may have a greater effect on later relationships for men than for women.

The effect of chronological and theoretical birth order on sexual attitudes and behaviors.

A survey designed to evaluate the impact that both chronological and theoretical birth order may have on sexual attitudes and behaviors was completed by 441 respondents (221 male, 220 female). The attitudes and behaviors investigated were aggressive sexual behavior, social relationship attitudes, emotional relationship attitudes, total heterosexual behavior, and total orgasmic behavior. The data revealed no difference between male and female in terms of total sexual behavior. However, males had significantly higher sexual aggression, social attitudes, emotional attitudes, and total orgasm scores. These results suggest that while there may be equity between the sexes in terms of heterosexual behavior, there are still significant differences between the sexes in terms of specific behaviors and attitudes. No differences were found on any of the scales based on either chronological or theoretical birth order. These results suggest that sexual behavior and attitudes may be influenced to a greater degree by biological and cohort factors than by sibling position.

Courtship violence.

Historically, the courtship relationship is thought to be one of peace and tranquility. However, recent research has demonstrated that many dating relationships include violence as a means to resolve conflicts. While differences have been found in the prevalence of violence between high school and college students, both groups report similar locations, causes, and consequences for the behavior. Peers are cited most often as confidants for students who have experienced the violence. Unfortunately, almost 25% of those who experience violence report it to no one. This paper also describes means school health personnel can use to discuss courtship violence with students. By demonstrating awareness of and sensitivity to the problem, school health personnel may be able to counter use of violence in dating relationships.

Sexual orientation and boyhood gender conformity: development of the Boyhood Gender Conformity Scale (BGCS)

Two hundred twenty-five [corrected] respondents (109 [corrected] heterosexuals and 116 [corrected] homosexuals) completed a survey containing a 20-item Boyhood Gender Conformity Scale (BGCS). This scale was largely composed of edited and abridged gender items from Part A of Freund et al.'s Feminine Gender Identity Scale (FGIS-A) and Whitam's "childhood indicators." The combined scale was developed in an attempt to obtain a reliable, valid, and potent discriminating instrument for accurately classifying adult male respondents for sexual orientation on the basis of their reported boyhood gender conformity or nonconforming behavior and identity. In addition, 33% of these respondents were administered the original FGIS-A and Whitam inventory during a 2-week test-retest analysis conducted to determine the validity and reliability of the new instrument. All the original items significantly discriminated between heterosexual and homosexual respondents. From these a 13-item function and a 5-item function proved to be the most powerful discriminators between the two groups. Significant correlations between each of the three scales and a very high test-retest correlation coefficient supported the reliability and validity assumption for the BGCS. The conclusion was made that the five-item function (playing with boys, preferring [corrected] boys' games, imagining self as sports figure, reading adventure and sports stories, considered a "sissy") was the most potent and parsimonious discriminator among adult males for sexual orientation. It was similarly noted that the absence of masculine behaviors and traits appeared to be a more powerful predictor of later homosexual orientation than the traditionally feminine or cross-sexed traits and behaviors.