Abstract

This study was conducted with the purpose of exploring the relationship dynamics of couples who experienced dating violence. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with 15 couples who experienced dating violence. The collected data was analyzed using the consensual qualitative research(CQR) method. As a result, 3 domains, 13 categories, and 30 subcategories were derived. Domain 1 was about “the direction of the dynamics of perpetration and victimization, types of violence, and experience level,” and found that the dynamics of perpetration and victimization are bidirectional, and that there are situational and controlling types of violence. For domain 2, we explored “major conflict themes, unique perceptions, and psychological dynamics of violence” and identified “other and communication issues” and “interference and personality issues” as major conflict themes, “gender stereotypes” and “violence permissive beliefs” as unique perceptions, and “attribution styles,” “major emotions,” and “coping styles” as psychological dynamics of violence. For domain 3, we looked into the ‘changes in commitment and satisfaction as well as relationship maintenance factors’ and presented changes in commitment and satisfaction, and found that the relationship maintenance factors were divided into positive and negative factors. These results are significant in that dating violence consists of mutual abuse and that it empirically revealed the detailed elements of the psychological dynamics of male and female. This was compared and analyzed with previous studies, and limitations and future research were also presented.