Aim: Although intimate partner violence (IPV) includes abuse and other forms of violence, it is different from other types of violence when the reasons, the way of living and the consequences are evaluated and the dynamics of the relationship are considered. The aim of this study was to determine some variables affecting students' IPV attitudes, acceptance levels of couple violence and emotion management skills and to evaluate the relationships between them.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between March-June 2019. The universe of the study was composed of 638 students in the nursing department of a university in Central Anatolia Region, and the study sample was computed to be 400 with a confidence interval of 95% and 3% margin of error. The study was concluded with 378 students (94.5%) by simple random sampling. The data were collected by "Intimate Partner Violence Attitudes Scale", "Acceptance of Couple Violence Scale" and "Emotions Management Skills Scale". Mann Whitney-U test, Kruskal Wallis test, Spearman correlation analysis, and Structural Equation Model (SEM) were used for statistical analysis of the data. For the study, the permission of the institution numbered 07.01.19_1774279/1 and the decision of the ethics committee numbered 19.02.19_09 was taken.

Results: 73.3% of the study group was female and the mean age was 20.75±1.75 years. Men, those who have an intimate partner 's education level of high school and below, those having an intimate partner who was no smoking/alcohol use were more likely to support IPV. The acceptance levels of couple violence were higher among men, those with four or more intimate partner relationships, and those who have been exposed / applied to any violence during any intimate partner relationship. Those who are currently in a intimate partner relationship, who lived the first intimate partner relationship at age 17 and under, who was not exposed to any violence during any intimate partner relationship, who had never smoked were more capable of managing their emotions (for each; p < .05). When students'  level of support of IPV (p < .05) and acceptance levels of couple violence (p < .001) were decreased, their competence in managing emotions were increased. According to SEM, each one point increase in students' acceptance levels of couple violence was associated with a 0.68 point decrease in students' supportting IPV. IPV attitude describes 44% of the variance in economic violence and 41% of the variance in emotional violence. Emotion management skill describes 58% of the variance in expression of emotions as spontaneously and 44% of the variance in expression of emotions as a verbal.

Conclusions: The results of the study generally show that increasing in the acceptance levels of couple violence increases the attitudes that supporting the dating violence. Students' IPV attitudes were mostly affected by economic and emotional violence. The ability of students' expression of their emotions as spontaneously and expression of their emotions as a verbal reflects their ability to manage their emotions. In order to increase the harmony between couples before marriage or to prevent violence; It is recommended to provide couple training for violence and to apply it continuously.

Keywords: Attitude, intimate partner violence, couple violence, emotion management skill, student