The role of callous unemotional traits in teen dating violence
Mara Morelli, Giuseppe Crea, Roberto Baiocco, Antonio Chirumbolo
Romantic relationships are central processes in identity construction. For this reason, it is important studying romantic relationships since adolescence. Violence among partners (that is also called dating violence) begins during adolescence. It is important studying relational and individual factors in dating violence since adolescence because this problematic and violent relationships could lead to dysfunctional and aggressive romantic relationships in adulthood. Few studies investigated the role of personality traits in victimization and perpetration of dating violence during adolescence. Thus, this study aimed at investigating which pathological personality traits, the callous unemotional traits (i.e. callousness, unemotional and uncaring), which represent the affective dimension of psychopathy, could lead to victimization and perpetration during adolescence. Participants were 411 adolescents (63.7% girls) from 13 to 20 years’ old which were in a dating relationship or which has been in one in the past. They completed the following self-report questionnaires: The Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory, the Cyber Dating Violence Inventory and the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits. Four hierarchic regression analyses were run in order to investigate which callous unemotional traits predicted victimization and perpetration of offline and online dating violence, controlling for gender, age, and sexual orientation. Findings showed that only callousness predicted both victimization and perpetration of offline and online dating violence. Results are discussed shedding light on possible implication for prevention programs with adolescents.
Keywords
Dating violence, callous unemotional traits, callousness, unemotional, uncaring, adolescence.