Gender-Role Egalitarianism and Dating Violence Rejection in Turkish University Students: Distinct Fairness Facets of Proportionality and Equality

Abstract

Dating violence remains a significant concern in emerging adulthood, yet rejection of dating violence may not be fully explained by gender-role egalitarian beliefs alone. Moral foundations were also considered as potential explanatory factors in understanding attitudes toward dating violence. Drawing on Moral Foundations Theory and the distinction between equality-based and proportionality-based fairness, this cross-sectional study examined whether proportionality-based fairness judgments are involved in an indirect association linking gender-role egalitarianism to dating-violence rejection among Turkish university students. Participants were 356 Turkish university students (18–28 years) who completed self-report measures assessing the study variables. Regression-based indirect-effect models with bootstrap confidence intervals were used to examine the proposed associations between these variables. The results indicated that more egalitarian gender beliefs were strongly associated with rejecting dating violence, and proportionality-based fairness showed a modest but statistically significant indirect association. In concurrent models, the two fairness facets showed distinct patterns, supporting the value of conceptualizing fairness as multidimensional. Because the design is cross-sectional and based on self-report measures, the findings do not establish temporal ordering or causal mechanisms. The results point to the need for future vignette-based and longitudinal studies in university populations to further examine these relationships and clarify their development over time.