Gender Differences in Attitudes Towards Violence in Dating

Abstract

Attitude needs to be considered concerning violence against partners, because these variables, apart from playing a role in acts of violence, also play a role in determining victim responses, and community responses (Flood & Pease, 2009). One type of violence that occurs in couples but is still rarely discussed is violence during dating. The attitude of a person, both men and women in assessing violence in dating, tends to affect their love relationship, both currently being undertaken and those that will occur in the future (Medeiros & Strauss, 2006). The present study examined the differences in attitudes towards the phenomenon of violence based on gender. Subjects in this study was 110 college students, with spesification of 42 males and 68 females with an age range of 18-27 years, collected by convenience sampling.  The results of hypothesis testing using the Mann-Whitney Test with sig 0.484 > 0.05 indicate no significant difference between male and female attitudes towards dating violence. The average score results of male and female is 2, which mean they generally do not agree with violence in dating. However, several male and female students in the medium dan high category indicate some of them tend to agree with violent behavior in dating. Furthermore, more study is needed to explore the reason behind this agreement, so stakeholders can implement a program to cultivate an attitude of empathy towards others, mutual respect, and obey the psychological code of ethics and in real life.