Citation

West CAROLYNM, Rose S. Violence Against Women 2000; 6(5): 470-494.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/10778010022181985

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Prevalence of aggression inflicted and sustained in dating relationships was investigated for 171 low income African American youth. More women were victims of choking, attempted forced intercourse, and hurt feelings. As perpetrators, more women reported making threats, throwing objects, and hitting their partner. However, men perpetrated more serious sexual and psychological aggression, including forced breast fondling, attempted forced intercourse, and making a partner feel inferior and degrading her. Women victims of sexual aggression, when compared to nonvictims, expressed more agreement with adversarial sexual beliefs regarding male-female relationships. More than one third of the participants endorsed antagonistic beliefs concerning Black male-female relationships. Suggestions for intervention are presented.