Source: Sandra Stith, 785-532-4377, sstith@k-state.edu
http://www.k-state.edu/media/mediaguide/bios/stithbio.html
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-6415, ebarcomb@k-state.edu

Friday, Feb. 12, 2010

K-STATE EXPERT SAYS MALE COLLEGE STUDENTS ALSO VICTIMS OF 1xbet online games login AT GIRLFRIENDS' HANDS; 1xbet online games login AMONG COLLEGE COUPLES OFTEN INVOLVES MUTUAL PUSHING, SHOVING

MANHATTAN -- Thinking about a typical victim of college dating 1xbet online games login , you're probably imagining her, not him.

Researchers often think the same way, according to a Kansas State University expert on intimate partner 1xbet online games login . Sandra Stith, a professor of family studies and human services, said most research has looked at men as offenders and women as victims.

&1xbet online games login ;In the research on college students in particular, we're finding both men and women can be perpetrators,&1xbet online games login ; she said. &1xbet online games login ;In our growing-up years, we teach boys not hit their sister, but we don't teach girls not to hit their brother.&1xbet online games login ;

She and a K-State research team are looking at the impact that being a victim of 1xbet online games login has on male versus female college students in heterosexual relationships.

&1xbet online games login ;Most research shows female victims having higher levels of depression, anxiety and school problems than nonvictims,&1xbet online games login ; Stith said. &1xbet online games login ;Our research indicates that both male and female college students are being victims of violence, and we want to see how it affects both.&1xbet online games login ;

In 2008, Stith and her former student at Virginia Tech, Colleen Baker, published research in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment and Trauma that found the biggest predictor of whether male and female college students would use 1xbet online games login against a partner was whether the partner was violent toward them.

&1xbet online games login ;It's a dramatically more important factor than anything else,&1xbet online games login ; Stith said. &1xbet online games login ;If your girlfriend hits you, that dramatically increases the likelihood that you're going to hit her, and vice versa.&1xbet online games login ;

In general, Stith said there are lower levels of 1xbet online games login among college couples than among married or cohabiting couples, and the 1xbet online games login is more likely to involve shoving and pushing by both men and women.

&1xbet online games login ;Previous research indicates that as young people grow up, the violence may become less frequent or severe or it may be eliminated,&1xbet online games login ; Stith said. &1xbet online games login ;Sometimes it's about immaturity.&1xbet online games login ;

Although alcohol is often a factor in 1xbet online games login among older couples who are married or in long-term relationships, Stith said drinking -- particularly binge drinking --plays a big part in college student 1xbet online games login . Other factors include a lack of anger management skills and having grown up with parents who are violent with one another.

&1xbet online games login ;When students get angry with their boyfriend or girlfriend, violence sometimes seems to be the normal thing to do,&1xbet online games login ; she said.

Stith said when researching alcohol problems, she found that college students often had different standards for themselves when it came to what constitutes a drinking problem. Whereas they see themselves as just partying and participating in normal college life, they would say an older, professional adult behaving the same way has a problem with alcohol.

&1xbet online games login ;I think they might be normalizing their aggressive behaviors, too,&1xbet online games login ; she said. &1xbet online games login ;They may think that when they're drinking and get angry and she slaps him and he grabs her, that it's not domestic violence. They may think that domestic violence is what happens in married people's lives.&1xbet online games login ;

Stith said one of her basic philosophies is that society needs to work toward ending all 1xbet online games login , not just male 1xbet online games login .

&1xbet online games login ;We need to address female violence, too,&1xbet online games login ; she said. &1xbet online games login ;We need to say that when you're in a relationship with someone you care about, you don't hit and you don't kick.&1xbet online games login ;

Stith's research team that is looking at the impacts of dating 1xbet online games login includes the following family studies and human services students and researchers: Yvonne Amanor-Boadu, post-doctoral research assistant; Marjorie Strachman Miller, doctoral student; Josh Cook and Michelle Gorzek, master's students; and Lauren Allen, a junior from Olathe and a 2007 graduate of Olathe Northwest High School.