Contextual Factors Surrounding Conflict Resolution While Dating: Results from a National Study

This research uses a national representative sample of persons who date and examines the processes surrounding the use and receipt of rational, verbally aggressive, and physically aggressive tactics in disputes. It also addresses whether verbal and physical aggression vary by gender, age, social classs, and alcohol consumption. The results show that women are at least as likely as men to engage in physical disputes. The young, lower class, and those who drink before a conflict are also more prone to physical aggression. The context surrounding aggressive incidents reveals that verbal aggression may be the seed of physical aggression, and that aggressive as well as nonaggressive behavior is reciprocated in kind.