Gendered Digital Dating: Are Stereotypical Gender Beliefs Associated with Digital Dating Abuse Perpetration Among Adolescents?

Background and Purpose: Digital media use has become increasingly widespread among youth. Its role as a context and tool for unhealthy and abusive dating behaviors is being explored. We use the term “digital dating abuse” (DDA) to describe a repeated pattern of behaviors to control, pressure, or threaten a current or former dating partner through the use of the Internet or cell phones.  Holding stereotypical gender beliefs is associated with off-line forms of dating violence. Does this association extend to the digital media context? Does the endorsement of traditional stereotypical beliefs about gender and dating relationships predict the frequency and type of DDA perpetration among high school girls and boys? We hypothesize that endorsing traditional beliefs about what it means to be a woman or a man in romantic relationships will influence both the likelihood to perpetrate DDA and the type of DDA tactics used to exert power and control over a dating partner.

Methods: We conducted a self-report cross-sectional survey study of 703, predominantly White (72%) sample of 9^th-12^th grade students with dating experience at a large suburban high school campus in Michigan. Participants ranged in age from 13-19, 91.6% aged 14-17. The majority identified as young women (56%). The Attitudes Towards Women scale for Adolescents, the Adolescent Masculinity Ideology in Relationships scale, Adversarial Sexual Beliefs Scale, and the Heterosexual Script Scale were combined to create a latent variable of “stereotypical gender/relationship beliefs.” Our measure of DDA asked about victimization and perpetration of 18 different DDA behaviors in their current or most recent relationship. This measure yielded three subscales: digital sexual coercion, digital direct aggression, and digital monitoring/control. We used structural equation modeling to test our hypothesized models of associations between stereotypical gender/relationship beliefs and DDA perpetration frequency, running separate models for girls and boys.

Results: Girls reported higher frequency of perpetration for DDA Monitoring/control, whereas boys reported higher frequency of perpetration of DDA Sexual Coercion. Boys scored higher on all four measures of stereotypical gender belief endorsement. DDA victimization variables were strongly associated with all corresponding types of DDA perpetration. There were significant associations between endorsement of stereotypical gender/relationships beliefs and DDA Sexual coercion and DDA Monitor/control. The model for boys also fit the data well, as all three DDA victimization frequency control variables were strongly associated with their corresponding DDA perpetration frequency variables. Endorsement of stereotypical gender/relationships beliefs was associated with greater frequency of DDA Direct aggression and DDA Sexual coercion.

Conclusions/Implications: Endorsing more stereotypical beliefs about gender was associated with greater frequency of DDA perpetration for both the girls and boys. However, the associations between beliefs and DDA behaviors showed a slightly different pattern by sex. We contribute to the literature by providing evidence that traditional gender beliefs contribute to digital forms of abuse. Both gender of the perpetrator and beliefs about gender, dating, and heterosexual relationship norms can contribute to problematic and harmful dating behaviors. This study supports incorporating discussions of gender and gender stereotypes into dating violence prevention efforts.