Gender Differences in the Perception of Courtship Abuse

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine gender differences in the perception of courtship abuse. Scenes of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse of both female and male victims were depicted in written vignettes. Two-hundred-forty male and 240 female college undergraduates rated the vignettes in terms of nine dimensions, including typicality of the dating situations and the severity of abuse depicted. The results indicated that there were no significant differences between men's and women's ratings of the severity of abusive behaviors depicted in the female victim vignettes, regardless of the type of abuse. Women, however, rated the sexual abuse of a women against a man in the vignette as significantly more abusive than did the male raters. The study also investigated the impact of prior involvement with abuse and found no correlation with current perceptions of courtship abuse. Avenues for future research and implications for intervention are discussed.