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Access Type
WSU Access
Date of Award
January 2025
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Psychology
First Advisor
Valerie Simon
Abstract
Romantic relationships are a central arena of adolescent development, providing intimacy and requiring adolescents to learn how to manage conflict. Adolescents' conflict management reflects their interpersonal competencies and mental representations of relationships which are often shaped by interpersonal histories, including adverse experiences. For instance, childhood interpersonal violence exposure (IVE) and adolescent dating aggression are linked to how adolescents’ think about and behave during romantic conflict. The current study examined how childhood IVE and adolescent dating aggression influence how adolescent girls (N=67) think about romantic conflict. Using a virtual reality task, real-time responses to age-typical romantic conflict were assessed. It was hypothesized that adolescent dating aggression victimization would mediate the relationship between childhood IVE and threat appraisals or anticipated aggression during romantic conflict. However, results of the current study did not support these hypotheses. The current study findings go against prior literature that supports relations among these constructs. I discuss potential explanations for the nonsignificant results, including methodological differences between the current study and the broader body of literature and explore alternative models. Additionally, strengths and limitations of the virtual reality procedure are discussed. Overall, the current study is a call for additional work aimed toward identifying the individual difference factors that lead some adolescents to make threat appraisals during romantic conflict.
Recommended Citation
Palmer, Christopher, "The Role Of Adolescent Dating Aggression In The Longitudinal Associations Between Girls’ Exposure To Interpersonal Violence And Subsequent Appraisals Of Romantic Conflict" (2025). Wayne State University Theses. 987.
https://digitalcommons.wayne.edu/oa_theses/987