Digital Dating Abuse: Digital Media as a Gendered Context for Dating Violence in the Digital World.

Abstract

Across three studies, this dissertation investigated the topic of digital dating abuse in high school dating relationships. The central research question was, How do digital media (cell phones and Internet) function as a gendered, co-constructed space for problematic dating behaviors and dating violence for high school students? Digital media, including the use of social media, cell phones, and other Internet sites, have become important social relational contexts for adolescents. Although there are both positive and negative aspects of digital media use in dating relationships, its ubiquitous and public nature may increase vulnerability to several types of problematic dating behaviors and dating violence. “Digital dating abuse” (DDA) is a repeated pattern of behaviors to control, pressure, or threaten a dating partner through the use of the Internet and cell phones. These behaviors can include monitoring someone’s activities and whereabouts, controlling whom they talk to and are friends with, name-calling, threats and hostility, and pressuring for sexual behavior. DDA has been linked to off-line forms of dating violence, and preliminary evidence suggests that women and girls may be differentially impacted by DDA victimization. The three dissertation studies have further explored how digital media create an interactive space in which the motivation, experience, and consequences of digital dating abuse may differ for girls and boys. A survey study of 703 high school students with dating experience was conducted. Study 1 utilized novel DDA measurement methods to assess gender differences in DDA victimization, finding that girls experienced more distress and negative emotional and behavioral consequences from all types of DDA. Study 2 examined the association between attachment insecurity and DDA perpetration, finding a link between attachment anxiety and digital monitoring/control for both girls and boys. Study 3 investigated the association between endorsement of gender/relationship beliefs and DDA perpetration, finding that gender beliefs were associated with different patterns of perpetration for girls and boys. In these studies, the dissertation explored multiple ways that gender functions to shape and impact DDA victimization and perpetration in adolescent relationships.