Intimate partner violence, social support and depression among dating University students

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between intimate partner violence, social support and depression among dating university students. The study used the following objectives; to find out whether there is a significant relationship between intimate partner violence and depression among dating university students, intimate partner violence and social support among dating university students plus social support and depression among dating university students. The study targeted 202 dating university students and a quantitative study design which employed a correlation research design method to establish the relationship between variables was used. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data from the 202 respondents. Collected data was analyzed using software called Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS-24) to find the level of significance of the hypothesis. The study hypothesis showed there was a significant relationship between intimate partner violence and depression among dating university students r(200) =.369**,p<0.000. , however there was no significant relationship between intimate partner violence and social support among dating university students in the second hypothesis r(200) = - .245,p<.000.and the third hypothesis stated that there was significant relationship between social support and depression among dating university students r(200) = .022,p<.754.In conclusion, high levels of intimate partner violence lead to severe depression, intimate partner violence is severe when social support is low and depression is low when social support is high.