Adolescent dating in Brazil: the circularity of psychological violence in different relationship contexts

The scope of this paper is to evaluate the perpetration of psychological violence in current male and female dating relationships and their link to psychological violence experienced in other contexts of their lives, namely family, relationships with friends and dating partners. 3,205 students in the 2nd year of high school (15 to 19 years old) in public and private schools in ten Brazilian cities filled out a closed and self-administered questionnaire. The results highlight the fact that the increase in the number of psychologically violent events perpetrated by adolescents in their intimate relationships is related to greater verbal aggression of the mother and father, and the more frequent experiences of psychological violence between parents, siblings, friends and that existing in earlier dating relationships. This reinforces the notion of circularity of psychological violence in various contexts of socialization of adolescents and highlights the continuity of aggressive behavior in other dating relationships, and those between siblings, family and friends.