[Study on 'dating violence' in 697 male university students].

OBJECTIVE

To explore the prevalence of 'dating violence' in male university students.

METHODS

Six hundred and ninety-seven male students from a university were surveyed by self-administered questionnaire anonymously.

RESULTS

Of the 697 male students, 73.5% (512/697) had a dating relationship or a dating meeting with the females. Among the 512 male students, 29.7% had physically (7.0%), psychologically (27.7%), or sexually (2.1%) aggressive behaviors to their partners while 25.2% of them had experienced aggression by their partners, physically (10.4%), psychologically (21.9%) or sexually (1.6%) in the past 12 months. Students having had physical punishment and emotional abuse during childhood by their parents were more likely to be involved in dating violence, when compared with the students who had no such experiences.

CONCLUSION

The problem of male students dating violence is not uncommon, suggesting that program on school and community-based prevention education and health services need to be developed.