Cyber Dating Abuse and Substance Use as Predictors of In-Person Dating Violence in Mexican Adolescents.

Abstract

Objective: To determine whether cyber dating abuse and the severity of alcohol and other drug use are predictors of in-person dating violence in Mexican adolescents. Methods: Predictive, cross-sectional study, with a non-probabilistic sample of 883 students, enrolled in schools distributed throughout Mexico. Results: Verbal and psychological violence due to victimization is the main form of in-person dating violence, albeit in a higher proportion by girls, whereas physical violence shows a bidirectional pattern between both sexes. Cyber control and monitoring predict most types of in-person violence through victimization and, together with substance abuse, predict physical and sexual violence. For its part, direct cyber aggression, together with substance abuse, predict most forms of violence perpetrated. Discussion: Girls not only experience a high frequency of violence but in some modalities also inflict violence relatively frequently, particularly in the realm of cyber dating abuse but also in the case of physical violence. Findings confirm the predictive role of cyber abuse in in-person dating violence, showing that together with substance abuse, it constitutes a significant predictor of more bodily forms of violence through victimization.