The relationship between dating violence in late adolescence, perception of gender and level of empathy

Dating violence is a serious social problem among adolescents and emerging adults. This study examined dating violence among late adolescents in terms of gender perception and empathy level. A total of 271 participants between the ages of 18-20 answered the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI), the Gender Equality Scale (GES), Basic Empathy Scale (BES) and the demographic information form prepared by the researcher. The findings of the study showed that 96.1% of the participants who had romantic relationships experienced some form of violence from their partners at some point in their lives. It has been observed that the levels of empathy, perpetration of violence, exposure to violence and gender related judgements differ according to various demographic variables, including the gender of the participants. Results also showed that sexual, verbal-emotional and physical violence and exposure to violence was related with gender related judgements and empathy. Regression analysis showed that perpetration of violence predicted the violence exposure; gender related judgements predicted the perpetration of violence; empathy levels predicted the gender related judgements significantly. Results also showed that as the level of women's empathy increases, gender roles become more egalitarian, and exposure to violence and also perpetrating the violence decreases. Results of this study demonstrated that gender related judgements and empathy levels have an important role in understanding dating violence of late adolescents. Results are discussed within the light of relevant literature