Dating violence risk factors of college students attending a midwest public university.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors of dating violence at a non-faith-based, public university – University of Akron. This is phase II of an ongoing study to identify risk factors of dating violence for university students. Five hundred and fifty-seven undergraduates completed an online survey that analyzed demographic characteristics, alcohol use, pornography use, rape myth acceptance, hooking up behaviors, and history of dating violence. Overall, 8.8% of students reported being a victim of sexual assault, 9.3% were victims of physical abuse, and 32.7% were victims of emotional and verbal abuse. Being a female and ever engaging in a hookup were found to be risk factors for all forms of dating violence – victim and perpetrator. Future research is needed to identify other possible risk factors and to further explore the hypothesized risk factors of: pornography, hookup culture, and receiving sex education.