Witnessing Parental Violence and Cyber IPV Perpetration in Hispanic Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Attitudes Toward IPV

Authors

Ines Cano-Gonzalez, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley
Ruby Charak, The University of Texas Rio Grande ValleyFollow
Ohad Gilbar
Rosa Viñas-Racionero
Megan K. Strait, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-2020

Abstract

Recent studies indicate that the perpetration of intimate partner violence via cyberspaces (cyber IPV), namely, psychological aggression, sexual aggression, and cyberstalking is high among emerging adults. However, little is known of the risk factors that lead to cyber IPV and far lesser within Hispanic adults. Based on the intergenerational transmission of violence hypothesis, the present study examined the indirect effect of witnessing parental violence during childhood on the three types of cyber IPV through attitudes condoning IPV in Hispanic men and women, separately. Participants were 1,136 Hispanic emerging adults in the age range of 18-29 years (M = 20.53 years, SD = 2.42; 72.5% women, 88% Mexican descent). Over half of the participants (54.2%) witnessed at least one instance of parental violence during childhood. In contrast to women, men were more likely to hold attitudes accepting of IPV and perpetrate cyber sexual IPV, whereas women were more likely to report cyberstalking perpetration. Men and women with exposure to mother-to-father violence held attitudes justifying IPV that was associated with perpetrating the three cyber IPV types in adulthood (women: Brange = .016-.036; men: Brange = .016-.024). No significant gender differences were found in the associations of mother-to-father WPV and father-to-mother WPV on the three types of cyber IPV perpetration. These findings are discussed in the context of Hispanic culture, which has specific implications for cyber IPV intervention strategies.

Comments

© 2020, © SAGE Publications. Original published version available at https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520975834

Recommended Citation

Cano-Gonzalez, I., Charak, R., Gilbar, O., Viñas-Racionero, R., & Strait, M. K. (2020). Witnessing Parental Violence and Cyber IPV Perpetration in Hispanic Emerging Adults: The Mediating Role of Attitudes Toward IPV. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260520975834

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Publication Title

Journal of Interpersonal Violence

DOI

10.1177/0886260520975834