Intimate partner violence, including physical, psychological, and sexual violence, affects over one-third of Americans and is particularly common among college students. Previous work has found links between rejection sensitivity and aggressive or hostile behavior (i.e., perpetration) in intimate relationships, but this construct has only been tested as a predictor of violence in an all-male sample. A related body of work has found relationships between self-silencing and rejection sensitivity, and between self-silencing and both hostile and ingratiating behavior. The purpose of this study was to bridge these related literatures and examine the relationship between rejection sensitivity and intimate partner violence experiences and the role of self-silencing as a possible mediator. To test these relationships, we collected survey data from a sample of college students (N = 410) at a large university in the northeast United States. Using mediation analyses, we found that rejection sensitivity predicted intimate partner violence victimization (i.e., being the target of violence) through self-silencing. Similarly, rejection sensitivity predicted intimate partner violence perpetration (i.e., being violent toward one’s partner) through self-silencing. Neither gender nor race significantly moderated either path of the models. Implications of this study include incorporating individual difference variables in intimate partner violence research and programming.

亲密伴侣暴力，包括身体、心理和性暴力，影响超过三分之一的美国人，在大学生中尤为常见。以前的工作已经发现拒绝敏感性与亲密关系中的攻击性或敌对行为（即犯罪）之间存在联系，但这种结构仅在全男性样本中作为暴力预测指标进行了测试。一项相关的工作发现了自我沉默与拒绝敏感性之间的关系，以及自我沉默与敌对和讨好行为之间的关系。本研究的目的是弥合这些相关文献，并检查拒绝敏感性与亲密伴侣暴力经历之间的关系以及自我沉默作为可能的调解者的作用。为了测试这些关系，N = 410）在美国东北部的一所大型大学。使用中介分析，我们发现拒绝敏感性通过自我沉默预测亲密伴侣暴力受害（即成为暴力目标）。同样，拒绝敏感性通过自我沉默预测亲密伴侣的暴力行为（即对伴侣施暴）。性别和种族都没有显着缓和模型的任何一条路径。本研究的意义包括在亲密伴侣暴力研究和规划中纳入个体差异变量。