Gender and adolescent relationship violence: A contextual examination

A growing body of research examines the problem of adolescent dating violence. In these studies, fairly high rates of female-to-male violence have been documented, leading to considerable debate about the role of gender in dating and other partner violence. Drawing from a broader qualitative study of violence in the lives of African-American youths from a distressed urban community, we weigh in on this debate by providing a contextual examination of the nature, circumstances, and meanings of adolescent dating violence. Our research shows that the meanings and consequences of girls' violence are strikingly different than those of boys', and that both are grounded in gender inequalities. We conclude by discussing the significance of these findings for both feminist and general research on dating violence.