Adolescent romantic relationships as a tug of war: The interplay of power imbalance and relationship duration in adolescent dating aggression

The present study investigates the link between power imbalance within the romantic\r\ncouple and psychological, relational and physical adolescent dating aggression (ADA)\r\nperpetration, considering also the role of relationship duration as an indicator of the\r\ndevelopmental stage of the relationship. This is the first investigation into whom is\r\nperceived to have power in the relationship (the partner or the subject him/herself) by\r\ndistinguishing between male and female adolescents. Participants were 805 Italian\r\nadolescents (36.1% males; 63.9% females) aged 14–20 years (Mage = 17.16 years,\r\nSDage = 1.34), all reporting having been in a romantic relationship currently or within\r\nthe past 6 months. Males perceiving a balanced relationship reported lower levels of\r\npsychological ADA perpetration, and they perpetrated more relational ADA in longer\r\nrelationships where the partner is perceived to have the power. No significant findings\r\nemerged regarding physical ADA. Females perceiving themselves as having the power\r\nin the relationship reported higher levels of psychological and physical ADA perpetration.\r\nThey perpetrated more relational ADA when they perceived the partner as\r\nhaving the power in the relationship. Also, females in longer relationships in which\r\npower was not perceived as equally shared between partners reported higher physical\r\nADA perpetration. Finally, for both males and females, longer relationships were\r\ncharacterized by higher levels of ADA toward the partner. Findings highlight the\r\nimportance of studying the interplay between power imbalance and relationship\r\nduration on ADA perpetration, and provide the way to understand possible functions\r\nof ADA within a romantic relationship.