Content area
Full text
Introduction
Individuals experience violence within interpersonal relationships, including romantic relationships. As a form of romantic involvement, dating is a relationship type that can either terminate with one or both parties or continue into more official relationships such as engagement, marriage, or cohabitation, involving social interactions (Straus 2004a). The concept of violence occurring between partners within dating relationships was first highlighted through studies conducted with university students by Makepeace (1981, 1983). Sugarman and Hotaling (1989) defined dating violence as “all words, gestures, and actions involving the use of painful or injurious physical or psychological force or threat in a dating relationship.” Dating violence encompasses all behaviors that endanger the physical, psychological, or sexual integrity of a partner or harm its development (Lavoie et al. 2000). The World Health Organization (WHO) included dating violence within the category of intimate partner violence in its report of 2013. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2024) states that dating violence can be committed in person, online, and through technological means. Accordingly, dating violence is a type of violence that includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological aggression, and stalking behaviors (CDC 2016). When examining the causes and risk factors of violence toward partners, various factors such as gender (Price et al. 1999), age (Makepeace 1981, 1983; Straus 2004a), attachment styles (Doumas et al. 2008; Follingstad et al. 2002; Gormley 2005; Sharpe and Taylor 1999; Sommer et al. 2017; Velotti et al. 2022), gender perceptions (Keçeci and Ekşi 2020; Herrero et al. 2017; Reyes et al. 2016; Santana et al. 2006), and media (Bailey et al. 2024; Brooks-Russell et al. 2015; Friedlander et al. 2013) have been found to play significant roles. Examining dating behaviors among youth, it becomes evident that attachment styles, media usage, and attitudes toward gender roles influence the direction of relationships (Weisskirch and Delevi 2012).
In all human relationships, including romantic relationships, mutual feeling, thought and behavior structures are established between individuals. Bowlby (1969), who put forward the attachment theory, states that attachment is the emotional bond that the child established with the mother from the early period and later with others. Attachment begins in the early stages of life and persists into later years, manifesting in romantic relationships as well (Hazan and Shaver 1987; Mikulincer...