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Adolescent Relationship Violence: Help-Seeking and Help-Giving Behaviors among Peers

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Abstract

Young people tend to disclose relationship violence experiences to their peers, if they disclose at all, yet little is known about the nature and frequency of adolescent help-seeking and help-giving behaviors. Conducted within a sample of 1,312 young people from four New York City high schools, this is the first paper to ask adolescent help-givers about the various forms of help they provide and among the first to examine how ethnicity and nativity impact help-seeking behaviors. Relationship violence victims who had ever disclosed (61 %) were more likely to choose their friends for informal support. Ethnicity was predictive of adolescent disclosure outlets, whereas gender and nativity were not. Latinos were significantly less likely than non-Latinos to ever disclose to only friends, as compared to disclosing to at least one adult. The likelihood of a young person giving help to their friend in a violent relationship is associated with gender, ethnicity, and nativity, with males being significantly less likely than females to give all forms of help to their friends (talking to their friends about the violence, suggesting options, and taking action). Foreign-born adolescents are less likely to talk or suggest options to friends in violent relationships. This study also found that Latinos were significantly more likely than non-Latinos to report taking action with or on behalf of a friend in a violent relationship. This research shows that adolescents often rely on each other to address relationship violence, underlining the importance of adolescents’ receipt of training and education on how to support their friends, including when to seek help from more formal services. To further understand the valuable role played by adolescent peers of victims, future research should explore both which forms of help are perceived by the victim to be most helpful and which are associated with more positive outcomes.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by funding from the New York City Council and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the policies or views of the funders.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Edinburgh/NSPCC Child Protection Research Centre, Edinburgh, UK

    Deborah A. Fry

  2. Justice Studies Department at Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL, USA

    Adam M. Messinger

  3. Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Vaughn I. Rickert

  4. International Womens’ Program at the Open Society Institute, New York, NY, USA

    Meghan K. O’Connor

  5. Epidemiology division at Pfizer Inc., New York, NY, USA

    Niki Palmetto

  6. NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault, New York, NY, USA

    Harriet Lessel

  7. Center for Youth Violence Prevention at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Leslie L. Davidson

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  1. Deborah A. Fry
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  2. Adam M. Messinger
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  3. Vaughn I. Rickert
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  4. Meghan K. O’Connor
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  5. Niki Palmetto
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  6. Harriet Lessel
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  7. Leslie L. Davidson
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Correspondence to Deborah A. Fry.

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Fry, D.A., Messinger, A.M., Rickert, V.I. et al. Adolescent Relationship Violence: Help-Seeking and Help-Giving Behaviors among Peers. J Urban Health 91, 320–334 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-013-9826-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-013-9826-7

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