Family experience, attachment to parents, and low self-control in dating violence in the U.S. and Korea

Although many studies have been done about dating violence, only a few researchers have developed theoretical conceptualizations of factors such as these in dating violence (Sellers, 2005; Follingstad et al., 1999; Riggs and O'Leary, 1989; Luthra and Gidycz, 2006). This dissertation moves beyond these to draw on three prominent general theories of crime and deviance for its theoretical framework to understand the effects of early family experience with violence (social learning), current attachment to parents (social bonding), and self-control. The purpose of this study is to link theoretically relevant variables that are linked in some way to the respondents' family of origin that may account for the likelihood of perpetration of or victimization by dating violence in two different cultures. In using the same survey instrument for two countries, this study tested whether theoretical explanations developed in Western society could be applied to Eastern society. A sample of 1,400 young adults attending a university in Korea and a sample of 1,500 young adults attending a university in America were used in this dissertation. Findings indicate that experience of child abuse (social learning), low self-control (self-control), serious dating relationship and risky sexual behavior have significant effects on both the perpetration and victimization of dating violence in both countries. Self-control has stronger effects in the American, and being the victim of violence in the home has more significant effects in the Korean sample.