Most people will have romantic relationship in different periods of their life and sometimes this relationship can contain abuse. The abuse which is perceived in romantic relationships can be an important problem for university students.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of personality traits of university students in the abuse which is perceived in their romantic relationships.

The study was descriptive and analytical. The students of Marmara University Faculties of Law, Pharmacy, Nursing and Midwifery, Cinema and Television department comprised the sample. The measuring instruments consisted of a personal information form, the Basic Personality Traits Instrument (BPTI) and Romantic Relationship Assessment Inventory (RRAI). The data were analyzed with the SPSS 11.5 programme, using the “Mann–Whitney U Test”, “Kruskal–Wallis Test”, “Spearmans Correlation Test”.

RRAI mean score was 102.41 ± 33.79; subscale of BPTI's mean scores were; extraversion 28.60 ± 5.97; conscientiousness 28.30 ± 5.91; agreeableness 33.73 ± 4.29; neuroticism 26.09 ± 6.48; openness to experience 21.91 ± 3.83; negative valence 9.82 ± 3.36. There was a low level negative significant relation was obtained between subscale of conscientiousness (r = −0.196, P = 0.000), agreeableness (r = −0.168, P = 0.000), a low level positive significant relation was found between subdimensions of neuroticism (r = 0.168, P = 0.000), negative valence (r = 0.255, P = 0.000) and abuse.

In conclusion, there is a relation between personality traits and perceived abuse. Therefore, education programmes should be prepared about abusive behaviour and its risk factors and consequences.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.