By Rebecca Fenton

College campuses like Northeastern are busy with student activity: football players practicing their game on the lawn, sorority leaders looking out for potential pledges and newspaper readers sipping coffee on park benches. But sometimes it’s what you don’t see in passing that tells another story about the lives of college students.

More than four out of every 10 students have been the victim of relationship violence by a partner, friend, or acquaintance, according to a new study that appeared in the “Archives of Pediatrics ‘ Adolescent Medicine” in July.

Researchers examined three urban college campuses where they surveyed 910 undergraduates from 67 randomly selected classes. The results yielded staggering statistics: 42 percent of college students had been the victim of relationship violence either before or during college, and 17 percent of them had been the perpetrator.

Guns, street violence and alcohol abuse are some factors that have influenced the rising levels of aggressive behavior, said Lois Kanter, director of Northeastern’s Domestic Violence Institute and clinical professor of law.

“The issue is one of entitlement to power and control,” Kanter said. “I think there is still a great deal of masculine perceptions that there’s some entitlement to be a more dominant partner in a relationship in some ways.”

But the cause of relationship violence also extends beyond gender roles, the study indicated. Contrary to masculinity stereotypes, researchers found that women were more likely to perpetrate physical violence than men were.

“I’m definitely surprised by this statistic,” said Kevin Lehner, a middler communication studies major. “A lot of time males think that they are the dominant species, but it also depends on how you were raised.”

Relationship violence is defined as a pattern of behavior where one partner threatens to establish power and control over the other partner by inciting violence. The study reported that relationship violence in college is more common between partners rather than friends or acquaintances.

“It’s hard to balance a relationship when you are young,” said middler sociology major Sarah Stokey. She said it can be difficult to draw the line between what’s acceptable and unacceptable behavior at a young age.

While physical abuse may visually appear more obvious, experts regard emotional abuse as worse. The study indicated that physical and emotional violence are equally common during college.

“Psychological abuse can be just as intense as physical abuse,” said Elena Mascarenhas, a senior psychology major. The influence of alcohol, she said, has made “sexual assault more common than any of us would think.”

While the study’s statistics are remarkable, what’s more startling is the reality of its findings.

“The experience of relationship violence is significant,” said Robert Klein, director of behavioral health at University Health and Counseling Services (UHCS). “That study is certainly not out of line.”

Klein said his interpretation of the study is that it shows the long standing norm of violence being accepting, for many years. He said it is undeniable that media, video games, and the Internet have played factors in revealing and creating violence in society.

Stokey said relationship violence is further perpetuated because violence is more interesting to watch than people engaging in a civil discussion. She said she also believes the rise of relationship violence has been related to media portrayal.

“Exaggerating scenarios and potentially showing your anger through violence is something that we have as a nation grown accustomed to,” she said.

Still, the media’s role in desensitizing violence does not lessen the problem, Klien said. College campuses have taken active measures to provide counseling services for victims as well as programs to encourage healthy relationships.

“The focus for us here at UHCS is to provide support for those who have been subject to relationship violence,” Klein said. The problem, he said, is that “there are those who do believe that what one considers violence, another considers normal interaction of a relationship.”

Klien said solving the issue of relationship violence begins with identifying the problem.

“It is important for people to understand that violence is not acceptable,” Klein said, “that it’s not normal.”