Factors associated with dating violence in high school students from Guadalajara, Mexico

Abstract

Background: Some studies show that a violent relationship maintained in courtship may influence subsequent behaviour with other couples. What makes the teen vulnerable to being harassed? The aim of the study is to analyse the prevalence of dating violence victims in high school’ students and establish a statistical association between personal, scholar and boyfriend/girlfriend interaction factors. Methods: Cross-sectional and analytical study. 585 students <18 years old who reported having a dating relationship in the last year (of the 734 randomly selected in high schools at University of Guadalajara) answered a questionnaire and a scale of victimization. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between dating violence and studied factors. Findings: 5,6 % of adolescents were victims of dating violence (CI 95% 4,0 – 7,9). Familial factors like schooling level of the father < 9 grades (OR 3,9, CI95% 1,3 – 12,0) and dating relationship such as the boyfriend/girlfriend asks her/his to miss school (OR 5,9, CI 95% 1,9 – 17,6) or return with the same boyfriend/girlfriend after to dislike the violent relationship (OR 3,1, CI 5% 1,1 – 8,9) were statistically associated to dating violence. Discussion: The suffering of the victim does not seem to push towards the search for healthy affective bonds. It is necessary to take into account that the way to respond to a situation of life has a cognitive mediation composed of thoughts, beliefs, motivations, expectations evaluation of the self (Lazarus) that must be explored to better understand the partner violence phenomenon.