Delinquency, identity, and women's involvement in relationship violence

This study focuses on factors associated with women's self-reports of relat ionship violence "perpetration." We analyzed data derived from personal int erviews with 942 respondents who were originally contacted when they were a dolescents and then 10 years later as young adults (N=721). Level of delinq uency in adolescence was a significant predictor of adult reports of involv ement in relationship violence, for both male and female respondents. In ad dition, women's scores on the Conflict Tactics scale were related to adoles cent and adult identities-higher scores were found among women who reported that they had been viewed as troublemakers as adolescents and who endorsed statements indexing an angry self-concept in adulthood. Although male perp etration represents a much more serious social and public health problem, t hese data do suggest that there may be a social learning basis for female a s well as male expressions of violence.