Perception of victimization in dating in Spanish teen and young

Dating violence, as a widespread social problem in Spain, has given rise to the creation of several victims' assistance services. Nonetheless, previous research has shown that experiencing violence does not necessary lead the subject to be self-labelled as a victim. This dissociation between victimization and self-labelling might be hindering their access to these resources. This study analyses the relationship between dating violence, measured behavioural indicators, and the use of various labels (i.e., abuse, fear, being trapped) to describe aforementioned relationships. The sample was composed by 6,731 students, aged between 15 and 26 years (M = 18.2; SD = 2.1), 39% males and 61% females. The majority of the sample (70%) reported not having felt abused, frightened or trapped. Only 1.1% of males and 3.1% of females responded positively to the three questions, and 25% answered affirmative, at least, one of the issues. Regarding the victimization experience, it was confirmed that fear and feeling trapped were associated with lower abuse levels than those found in subjects self-labelled as abused, but they were statistically higher than those participants who responded negatively to the three questions (p < 0,001). Besides, different types of violence were differently associated to fear and being trapped, with a linear upward trend for the different forms of violence assessed by Dating Violence Questionnaire, in both males and females. Thus, results are discussed in respect to the ease that being properly labelled as a victim of dating violence may suppose in help seeking behaviour. (C) 2015 Sociedad Universitaria de Investigation en Psicologia y Salud. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L.U.