Perceived causes of physical assault in heterosexual dating relationships.

Two studies investigated college students' perceptions of causes of violence in heterosexual dating relationships. Study 1 examined 107 participants' written causal explanations for dating violence. The second study focused on 70 students' ratings of cause in 15 scenarios ending with the man hitting the woman. Relationship and communication problems were primary causes when dating violence was presented in a concrete situation, whereas power and gender socialization were primary causes when presented as a social problem. Participants acknowledge power as an important cause, which suggests feminist structural frameworks in which relationship violence is embedded may lead to more effective prevention education.