SEATTLE, June 27 (UPI) -- University of Washington researchers tracing the development of violent behavior have found a link between teenage violence and domestic violence.
Adolescents who engaged in violent behavior at a relatively steady rate through their teenage years and those whose violence began in their mid-teens and increased over the years are significantly more likely to engage in domestic violence in their mid-20s than other young adults, according to lead author Todd Herrenkohl, an associate professor of social work at the University of Washington in Seattle.
The study, published in the journal Violence and Victims, also found no independent link between an individual's use of alcohol or drugs and committing domestic violence. In addition it showed that nearly twice as many women as men said they perpetrated domestic violence in the past year, including kicking, biting or punching a partner, threatening to hit or throw something at a partner, and pushing, grabbing or shoving a partner, said Herrenkohl.
Our culture seems to be encouraging aggressive behavior in girls and women, who tend to display aggression in interpersonal relationships. It is no wonder that many young women feel that it is acceptable to kick, bite or punch a partner. A commenter mentioned the movie, The Holiday,
in a previous post. I saw this movie over the weekend and I must say that the part where Cameron Diaz punched her cheating boyfriend squarely in the face not once but twice and left him bleeding made me wince, it was not funny. But our culture thinks women hitting, pushing and shoving men is hilarious. I wonder if more girls and women just feel more comfortable now admitting that they hit men since it is seen as powerful rather than "unladylike." But is hitting, kicking and punching your significant other really the way to solve a problem, for either sex?