Gender Differences in Adolescent and Young Adult Predictors of Later Intimate Partner Violence

Abstract

The authors examined distal predictors of perpetration and victimization of intimate partner violence (IPV) among 725 young adult men and women using prospective data. Earlier problem drinking and negative affect were common predictors of perpetration for both genders. Lower education predicted female perpetration; parental fighting predicted male perpetration. No common predictors of victimization were found for men and women. Lower education, problem drinking, and childhood parental beating predicted female victimization. None of the models explained a large amount of the variance in IPV. More longitudinal research is needed on gender differences in the explanations for and consequences of IPV.