Violence and sexual coercion in high school students' dating relationships

A review of the dating violence literature reveals a limited number of stud ies with high school students and few studies that investigate the contextu al issues of violence, such as meaning motivation, and consequences. The pr esent study sought to investigate the extent of dating violence victimizati on in a New Zealand sample of senior high school students (aged 16 to 18 ye ars) and the perceived reasons for the violence, emotional effects, disclos ure of the violence, and relationship consequences. A questionnaire that co ntained both open-ended and forced-choice items pertaining to experiences o f violence and its consequences was developed using material gathered from focus group discussions with high school students. Findings showed gender s imilarity in the extent of violence and a number of significant gender diff erences in the aftermath of violence, particularly in the area of sexual co ercion. These findings are discussed in the context of future research and prevention of dating violence.