Original article
Dating Violence Perpetration and Victimization Among U.S. Adolescents: Prevalence, Patterns, and Associations With Health Complaints and Substance Use

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2013.02.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Purpose

This research identified conceptually cohesive latent classes of youth dating violence (DV) and examined associations between covariates and classes by gender.

Methods

A nationally representative sample of 2,203 10th grade students completed assessments of physical and verbal DV victimization and perpetration, depressive symptoms, health complaints, and substance use. A Factor Mixture Model was used to identify patterns of DV. Gender differences among classes were examined for depressive symptoms, health complaints, and substance use.

Results

Prevalence of DV victimization was 35% and perpetration was 31%. A three-class model fit adequately and provided conceptual cohesion: Class 1 = non-involved (65%); Class 2 = victims/perpetrators of verbal DV (30%); and Class 3 = victims/perpetrators of verbal and physical DV (5%). Compared with Class 1 adolescents, those in Classes 2 and 3 were more likely to report depressive symptoms, psychological complaints, and alcohol use. Females in Classes 2 and 3 were also more likely to report physical complaints, cigarette use, and marijuana use. Among females involved in DV, those in Class 3 compared with Class 2 reported more depressive symptoms, physical and psychological complaints, and cigarette and marijuana use.

Conclusions

The three-class model distinguished involvement in verbal acts from involvement in verbal and physical acts. Adolescents involved in DV had similar probabilities of reporting perpetration and victimization, suggesting violence within relationships may be mutual. Involvement in DV was associated with more health issues and concurrent problem behaviors. For females in particular, the increased involvement in DV was associated with other health indicators.

Section snippets

Gender differences in dating violence

Research findings regarding associations of DV with gender are inconsistent across studies. When broad definitions of DV are used, higher rates are often found among boys compared with girls [18]. When type of victimization is considered, girls are more often victims of combined verbal and physical abuse, whereas males are more likely to experience only verbal abuse [19]. Females more frequently report experiencing more severe forms of physical and sexual violence [7], [10], [20]. Findings

Methods

A nationally representative sample of 2,524 10th grade students from 80 schools (public and private; 69% student response rate) was assessed during the 2009–2010 school year as part of the NEXT Generation Health Study. Required classes in 10th grade were selected randomly within schools. Research staff administered paper and pencil surveys; absent students had the opportunity to mail in their survey or complete it online. African-American youth were oversampled to provide better population

Dating violence

The revised Conflict Tactics Scale [29] was used to assess involvement in DV in the last 12 months. Five items assessing victimization asked youth whether his/her boyfriend/girlfriend did any of the following: (1) call him/her names or insult him/her; (2) swear at him/her; (3) threaten; (4) push or shove him/her; and (5) throw something that could hurt him/her. To assess perpetration, respondents were asked about exhibiting these same five behaviors in relationships. Students who answered “yes”

Descriptive statistics

Most respondents were white (57%) and female (53%), with a mean age of 16.2 years (Table 1). The prevalence of any victimization and any perpetration in the overall sample was 35% and 31% respectively. Twenty-four percent of students reported verbal but no physical victimization, and 11% reported physical victimization. Similarly, 21% reported verbal but no physical perpetration, and 9% reported some physical perpetration. The means for depressive symptoms, physical, and psychological

Discussion

Thirty-five percent of youth reported victimization and 31% of youth reported perpetration of verbal and/or physical DV in the last year; thus, youth report committing DV at similar rates as they are victimized. The prevalence of DV victimization found in this sample is similar to that reported for heterosexual youth in Add Health [10]. This is the first nationally representative study to present prevalence of perpetration, and the rate found is within the range of those reported in previous

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Faith Summersett-Ringgold and Michele Kiely, Dr.P.H., for their contributions to this paper. This project (contract number HHSN267200800009C) was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), and Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of the Health Resources

References (39)

  • S. Haugland et al.

    Subjective health complaints in adolescence—Reliability and validity of survey methods

    J Adolesc

    (2001)
  • T. Torsheim et al.

    Sense of coherence and school-related stress as predictors of subjective health complaints in early adolescence: Interactive, indirect or direct relationships?

    Soc Sci Med

    (2001)
  • J. Vezina et al.

    Risk factors for victimization in romantic relationships of young women: A review of empirical studies and implications for prevention

    Trauma Violence and Abuse

    (2007)
  • Offenhauer P, Buchalter A, 2011. Teen dating violence: A literature review and annotated...
  • D. Exner-Cortens et al.

    Longitudinal associations between teen dating violence victimization and adverse health outcomes

    Pediatrics

    (2012)
  • W. Collins

    More than myth: The developmental significance of romantic relationships during adolescence

    J Res Adolesc

    (2003)
  • S. Hamby et al.

    Teen dating violence: Co-occurrence with other victimizations in the National Survey of Children's Exposure to Violence (NatSCEV)

    Psychology of Violence

    (2012)
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

    Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance—United States, 2009. Surveillance Summaries

    Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report

    (2010)
  • C.T. Halpern et al.

    Partner violence among adolescents in opposite-sex romantic relationships: Findings from the national longitudinal study of adolescent health

    Am J Public Health

    (2001)
  • Cited by (200)

    View all citing articles on Scopus

    None of the authors have real, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

    View full text