Maternal Support and Physical Dating Violence Perpetration among Disconnected Young Women

Parental support is a well-documented protective factor against dating violence perpetration. However, no studies have investigated this relationship among disconnected, young urban Black women, despite higher reported instances of perpetration among this group. We hypothesized that higher levels of parental support would be associated with lower levels of dating violence perpetration. Participants were 374 disconnected, young urban Black women (ages 16–23) recruited from two employment training programs in Baltimore, Maryland. We used multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess the association between youth reported maternal and paternal support and physical dating violence perpetration. Over 20% of the sample reported past-year physical dating violence perpetration. Experience with recent dating violence victimization was the most robust correlate of physical dating violence perpetration (aOR = 6.44, p = 0.000). Contrary to prediction, maternal support was associated with a 37% increase in the odds of physical dating violence perpetration among participants (aOR = 1.37, p = 0.027). Findings highlight the need for additional research on the complex relationship between maternal support and physical dating violence perpetration among disconnected, young urban Black women.