Press release
08/2014/*
Subtlety a key element in violence in
teenage couples
Many other forms of violence occur in teenage couples
relationships apart from gender violence, according to a study
conducted by the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country in
four countries.
In her PhD thesis(Dating Violence from a Systemic and Cross-Cultural
Approach),
the
psychologist
Alazne
Aizpitarte
has
analysed
dating
relationships
among
teenagers
from
a
systemic,
cross-cultural
perspective.The study, conducted in Guatemala, Mexico, Spain and the
Netherlands reveals great differences between some countries and others as
far as the prevalence and social acceptation of physical violence is
concerned, but not with respect to the use of psychological violence.On the
other hand, many young adults and teenagers use the new technologies to
control their partners, according to Aizpitarte's work.
“The key to violence in young couples is an unhealthy, mistaken idea about
their relations.It is largely a question of perception: `You must only be
with me; you are mine; you are for me only... ’That is how many teenagers
and young adults see their dating in which they regard their partner as
their private ‘property’. The model of ‘romantic' love is highly
internalised, and this prevents them for having a 'healthy' relationship,"
said Alazne Aizpitarte.“Driven by jealousy, many adolescents (both boys and
girls) tend to control their partners and their way of life, and it seems
‘normal’ to them to do this. ”The use of the new technologies (mobile
phones, etc.) to control the partner is very widespread and, on occasions,
photos and information about him or her are spread over the social
networks. According to Aizpitarte, “it is a phenomenon very much to be
taken into account, as it can lead to serious consequences and be the
prelude of much more violent behaviour in the future".
On the other hand, “many factors apart from gender intervene in teenage
dating relationships.The violence tends to be very subtle in the majority
alavacomunicacion@ehu.es
www.ehu.es
KOMUNIKAZIOBULEGOA
OFICINA DE COMUNICACIÓN
Vicerrectorado del Campus de
Álaba
c/ Comandante Izarduy, 2
01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz
T: 945 01 33 53 / 688 67 37
42
of cases.In this age bracket, the main reference for teenagers is no longer
their parents, but their friends and the people in their milieu…, and they
act through imitation,” said Aizpitarte. She also emphasised that this
violence tends to be in both directions, in other words, it is not just the
violence carried out by one sex (boys) on the other: “Girls also act out of
jealousy and have other unhealthy attitudes," said the researcher.
Physical and psychological violence
Aizpitarte carried out her study in two countries in Latin America (Mexico
and Guatemala) and in another two in Europe (the Netherlands and Spain) and
one of the aims of the work was as follows:to compare the behaviour of
university students in these countries. As they were samples taken from a
specific social sector (university), one could anticipate that the results
of sectors in a situation below that level would be “worse”. The method
used to produce the study was systemic and cross-cultural, in other words,
various factor were taken into consideration (the family, relations,
gender, culture, etc.) and the relationships between them all. Among the
conclusions of the work, the following stands out:there is a great
difference between some countries and others as far as the use of physical
violence is concerned (the trend in Mexico is more widespread than in the
others), but the difference is not so big with respect to psychological
violence.In the less developed countries (Mexico) the use of physical
violence against the partner is more socially accepted (slapping, squeezing
hard, etc.) than in the developed countries, but the presence of
psychological violence is similar in both. These cultural differences
account for the different criminalization of the use of physical violence
in some countries and in others:in the developed countries (in the
Netherlands, for example), the attackers are punished more severely, and
suffer much greater social rejection.
There were three main aims in the study:firstly, to develop a specific
scale to assess violence in dating relationships among young adults and
teenagers, bearing in mind the characteristics and dating of that
generation; secondly, to detect the risk factors that may increase the use
of violence in teenage dating, and also to produce a model to show the
complex relationship between the various factors (family, relations, sociocultural level, etc.); and finally, to analyse the cultural differences
between these types of relations.
alavacomunicacion@ehu.es
www.ehu.es
KOMUNIKAZIOBULEGOA
OFICINA DE COMUNICACIÓN
Vicerrectorado del Campus de
Álaba
c/ Comandante Izarduy, 2
01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz
T: 945 01 33 53 / 688 67 37
42
Additional information
Alazne Aizpitarte’s PhD thesis formed the hub of this study and was
entitled Dating Violence from a Systemic and Cross-Cultural Approach. Her
thesis was supervised by Itziar Alonso-Arbiol, associate lecturer at the
UPV/EHU’s Faculty of Psychology, and FonsJ.R. van de Vijver, professor of
the University of Tilburg (the Netherlands). The UPV/EHU's Faculty of
Psychology was the main scenario of the thesis, but not the only one:
Aizpitarte spent three months at the University of Tilburg, and was in
contact with various researchers in Mexico and Guatemala. Alazne Aizpitarte
is a Doctor of Psychology, a graduate in Psychology and Psychopedagogy and
a specialist in Family and Couple Therapist.
Photo caption:
Many teenagers have a mistaken perception of dating relationships.
alavacomunicacion@ehu.es
www.ehu.es
KOMUNIKAZIOBULEGOA
OFICINA DE COMUNICACIÓN
Vicerrectorado del Campus de
Álaba
c/ Comandante Izarduy, 2
01006 Vitoria-Gasteiz
T: 945 01 33 53 / 688 67 37
42