10.1% of adolescents have been victims of controlling behaviour in relationships

Social Observatory of the La Caixa Foundation.
Social Observatory of the La Caixa Foundation.
News | Research
(04/03/2024)
A report by the Social Observatory of the La Caixa Foundation led by Noemí Pereda, Marta Codina and Diego A. Díaz-Faes, researchers at the University of Barcelona, has revealed that 10, 1% of adolescents have been victims of controlling behaviours in relationships. The research article “Intimate partner violence among adolescent relationships” defines controlling violence as behaviours in which a person limits their partner's relationship with their friends, prevents them from meeting other people or checks their mobile phone, among other behaviours.
Social Observatory of the La Caixa Foundation.
Social Observatory of the La Caixa Foundation.
News | Research
04/03/2024
A report by the Social Observatory of the La Caixa Foundation led by Noemí Pereda, Marta Codina and Diego A. Díaz-Faes, researchers at the University of Barcelona, has revealed that 10, 1% of adolescents have been victims of controlling behaviours in relationships. The research article “Intimate partner violence among adolescent relationships” defines controlling violence as behaviours in which a person limits their partner's relationship with their friends, prevents them from meeting other people or checks their mobile phone, among other behaviours.

The report, which includes data from a previous study to be presented soon, also reveals that girls aged 14-17 report more victimisation by controlling violence than boys. Thus, 13.3% of young women feel subjected to this type of coercion in their relationships, compared to 7.1% of young men. 

The report not only addresses teen dating violence from the victims’ perspective, but also looks at the position of the perpetrators in their relationships. To this end, the responses of a representative sample of 4,004 young people in school were analysed, of whom 51.2% were girls, 46.2% boys and 0.9% identified themselves as another gender. 

Noemí Pereda, co-author of the study, says: “The rate of control behaviours obtained in the study is very similar to that found in previous Spanish studies and even in other European studies. These behaviours affect 1 in 10 young people in Spain. This form of violence, linked to controlling behaviours, is related to a traditional and patriarchal vision of what ‘romantic’ love is supposed to be, a model of relationship in which control is interpreted as interest and respect for the partner”. 

The report, which includes data from a previous study to be presented soon, also reveals that girls aged 14-17 report more victimisation by controlling violence than boys.

The results of the article also show that 13.6% of young people have been victims of some kind of violence in a romantic relationship, while 4.8% admit that they have been victims of violence against their partner. Controlling violence is the most common from both perspectives (3%). 

Pereda says that, in many cases, “we should consider that relationships in which both boys and girls — as observed — report controlling their partners, are temporary and the model of romantic love disappears as time goes by, and with new relationships”. “However, — she continues —, in some cases this controlling behaviour can escalate to other more serious forms of violence, such as physical or sexual abuse. For this reason, we need to have an influence through education regarding these harmful conceptions of relationships and love that restrict young people's freedom and encourage them to follow a model of violence”, she points out. 

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