Abuse and Violence in Adolescent Girls' Dating Relationships

Conceptualization of adolescent gender-based violence has been caught at the crossroads of the childhood peer aggression literature and the adult domestic violence literature. On the one hand, child peer aggression research recognizes female-perpetrated violence and “female types” of violence (Craig & Pepler, 1997; Olweus, 1991); on the other hand, the adult intimate relationship violence literature emphasizes a male-to-female, powerand control-based violence (Dobash & Dobash, 1992). In all likelihood, adolescent dating violence falls somewhere in the middle.