Dating Violence Among Chinese American and White Students

SUMMARY A sample of 289 Chinese American and 138 White students from a university campus was recruited from social science courses to complete a survey on perceptions of and experiences with dating violence and gender role beliefs. White students were more likely to define dating violence as physical and sexual aggression compared to the Chinese American students. Although the majority of students from both ethnic groups did not agree that dating violence is justified under various circumstances, the Chinese American students were more likely to provide a contextual justification for the use of dating violence. Findings also indicated that 20% of Chinese American students and 31.3% of the White students have experienced some form of physical dating violence since they started dating. For both the Chinese American and White students, those who were more likely to agree that various acts of physical aggression are considered dating violence were less likely to perpetrate physical dating violence in the last 12 months. The sociocultural context of dating violence and implications for practice and research are discussed.