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The Conflict Tactics Scales 2 (CTS; Straus, Hamby, Boney-McCoy, & Sugarman, 1996) is the most widely used measure of intimate partner violence (IPV), and it consistently indicates high rates of IPV by young women in dating relationships. However, the CTS has been criticized for not assessing the context of the acts it measures. This study undertook a mixed-method investigation of women’s IPV, incorporating both the CTS and in-depth interviews, to contextualize women’s CTS reports of their use of violence against dating partners. Four hundred seventy-six female undergraduates who had been in a heterosexual dating relationship in the past year completed the CTS. Women were then purposively recruited for follow-up interviews in a balanced design across 4 groups defined by self-reports of IPV perpetration on the CTS, ranging from none to severe and/or frequent violence. Thirty-four …