Prevalence of Violence Against Dating Partners by Male and Female University Students Worldwide

Abstract

This article presents rates of violence against dating partners by students at 31 universities in 16 countries (5 in Asia and the Middle East, 2 in Australia-New Zealand, 6 in Europe, 2 in Latin America, 16 in North America). Assault and injury rates are presented for males and females at each of the 31 universities. At the median university, 29% of the students physically assaulted a dating partner in the previous 12 months (range = 17% to 45%) and 7% had physically injured a partner (range = 2% to 20%). The results reveal both important differences and similarities between universities. Perhaps the most important similarity is the high rate of assault perpetrated by both male and female students in all the countries.