Search

Psychological aggression between intimate partners has been found to occur at high rates in college populations, but the reliability and validity of the self-report measures used to gather this information have been criticized. Some studies indicate item order may affect self-reports of victimization and perpetration of violent behaviors. In this study, we administered standardized and randomized formats of the Multidimensional Measure of Emotional Abuse (MMEA; Murphy & Hoover, 1999) to study the impact question order had on self-reports of psychological aggression victimization and perpetration. Results demonstrated that women reported more frequent perpetration and victimization than men on some MMEA subscales. Furthermore, those who took the standardized format of the MMEA reported more frequent perpetration and victimization on some MMEA subscales than those who took the randomized format. However, no significant interaction effects were found between gender and format. Overall, these mixed results warrant further research on item order effects with self-report measures of intimate partner violence.

Preliminary research has demonstrated the utility of bystander interventions in reducing sexual assault (Coker et al., 2011; Moynihan & Banyard, 2008), and initial research has begun extending this type of intervention to dating violence broadly (i.e., physical and psychological aggression). However, there are many unexplored factors that may increase or decrease the likelihood that individuals will engage in bystander behavior. One such factor is previous experiences with dating violence and sexual assault. Thus, this study examined prior dating violence and sexual assault experiences and endorsement of bystander behaviors in a large sample of college students (N = 2,430). We hypothesized that individuals with a history of dating and sexual assault victimization would be more likely to report engaging in bystander behaviors relative to nonvictims. The relationship between prior dating violence perpetration on bystander behavior was also explored. Results demonstrated that individuals with physical and sexual, but not psychological, victimization histories reported more frequent bystander behavior. Furthermore, perpetrators of physical violence were more likely than nonperpetrators to report bystander behavior, particularly among females. Findings provide preliminary evidence that prior experiences with dating violence and sexual assault may impact bystander behavior. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.