Lledó Rando Carmen, Perles Novas Fabiola, San Martín García Jesús
University of Malaga, Spain.
J Interpers Violence. 2023 May;38(9-10):6695-6722. doi: 10.1177/08862605221137721. Epub 2022 Nov 30.
This empirical work focuses on social norms as a way of transmitting psychological violence in young people, which could be affecting the effectiveness of preventive programs in dating violence. These programs are effective in changing beliefs, but new intervention approaches are in demand due to the former's limitations in achieving behavioral changes. The main objective of this study is to demonstrate that some dimensions of psychological violence are transmitted as a descriptive social norm, without any need of victimization. In a sample of 1,265 people (18-25 years old) and through two different studies, we explored the perception of prescriptive and descriptive social norms in situations of coercive control applied to three contexts (Study 1), isolation and domination (Study 2), under the hypothesis that coercive control is passed on as a descriptive social norm between peers. Characteristics describing diversity are taken into account. The results in frequency and Structural Equation Model analysis confirm the main hypothesis, because both perceptions are not correlated. Social norms no covariate with social characteristics. Same cannot be said of isolation and domination, leading to three conclusions for prevention. (1) Not all psychological violence works the same. Coercive control starts from a primary cognitive process that requires complementary actions, based for example on the cognitive hierarchy among social norms; (2) Preventive programs are often based on "prescribed" behaviors, related to the consequences they have on victims, whereas the descriptive social norm found in this study does not correlate with victimization, unless control is applied to specific contexts. Therefore, an additional effort in prevention could go deeper with more specific behaviors that show both the different types of psychological violence and the contexts of application; (3) Finally, at the policy level, results found call for the need for preventive efforts on psychological violence in the 18 to 25 age group and specific awareness campaigns.
这项实证研究聚焦于社会规范，将其视为年轻人中传播心理暴力的一种方式，而这可能会影响约会暴力预防项目的有效性。这些项目在改变观念方面是有效的，但由于前者在实现行为改变方面存在局限性，因此需要新的干预方法。本研究的主要目的是证明心理暴力的某些维度作为一种描述性社会规范被传播，而无需受害经历。在一个由1265人组成的样本（年龄在18 - 25岁之间）中，通过两项不同的研究，我们探讨了在三种情境下（研究1）强制控制、（研究2）孤立和支配情境中对规定性和描述性社会规范的认知，假设强制控制作为一种描述性社会规范在同龄人之间传递。研究考虑了描述多样性的特征。频率分析和结构方程模型分析的结果证实了主要假设，因为两种认知不相关。社会规范与社会特征无协变量关系。孤立和支配情况则不然，由此得出三个预防结论：（1）并非所有心理暴力的作用方式都相同。强制控制始于一个需要补充行动的初级认知过程，例如基于社会规范中的认知层次；（2）预防项目通常基于与对受害者产生的后果相关的“规定性”行为，而本研究中发现的描述性社会规范与受害情况无关，除非控制应用于特定情境。因此，预防方面的额外努力可以更深入地针对更具体的行为，这些行为既要展示不同类型的心理暴力，也要展示应用情境；（3）最后，在政策层面，研究结果表明需要针对18至25岁年龄组的心理暴力开展预防工作以及特定的宣传活动。
