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The role of moral neutralization of aggression and justification of violence against women in predicting physical teen dating violence perpetration and monitoring among adolescents in Switzerland
Author(s) -
Schuster Isabell,
Tomaszewska Paulina,
Gul Pelin,
Ribeaud Denis,
Eisner Manuel
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
new directions for child and adolescent development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.628
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1534-8687
pISSN - 1520-3247
DOI - 10.1002/cad.20430
Subject(s) - aggression , psychology , dating violence , poison control , injury prevention , suicide prevention , human factors and ergonomics , developmental psychology , domestic violence , occupational safety and health , social psychology , medicine , medical emergency , pathology
Abstract Although dating violence poses a serious threat to adolescents’ health and well‐being around the globe, little evidence is available for Europe in general and Switzerland in particular. Also, evidence on the role of cognitive predictors related to a more general justification of aggressive behavior and gender‐based violence is lacking. Therefore, this two‐wave longitudinal study conducted with Swiss adolescents ( N = 646) examined moral neutralization of aggression and justification of violence against women as predictors of physical dating violence perpetration and monitoring. As expected, higher moral neutralization of aggression predicted a higher likelihood of perpetrating physical dating violence and monitoring among both female and male adolescents. Justification of violence against women was positively associated with physical dating violence perpetration among males, but negatively among females. Also, a negative relationship was found with monitoring among females. The role of gender and implications of these findings for research, practice, and policy are discussed.