Prevalence and Correlates of Dating Violence in a National Sample of Adolescents

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Abstract

Objective

Dating violence is an important but understudied public health concern in adolescents. This study sought to examine the lifetime prevalence of serious forms of dating violence in 12- to 17- year-olds, risk and protective factors associated with dating violence, and the relation between dating violence and mental health.

Method

A nationally representative sample of adolescents (N = 3,614) completed a telephone-based interview that assessed serious forms of dating violence (i.e., sexual assault, physical assault, and/or drug/alcohol-facilitated rape perpetrated by a girlfriend, boyfriend, or other dating partner).

Results

Prevalence of dating violence was 1.6% (2.7% of girls, 0.6% of boys), equating to approximately 400,000 adolescents in the U.S. population. Risk factors included older age, female sex, experience of other potentially traumatic events, and experience of recent life stressors. Findings also suggested that dating violence is associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and major depressive episode after controlling for demographic variables, other traumatic stressors, and stressful events.

Conclusions

These findings indicate that dating violence is a significant public health problem in adolescent populations that should be addressed through early detection, prevention, and intervention. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry, 2008; 47(7):755–762.

Section snippets

Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Dating Violence Among Adolescents

It is important to identify populations at particular risk for experiencing dating violence so that researchers, clinicians, and other youth-serving professionals know where to focus their efforts for further assessment as well as when and with whom they should intervene. To date, studies conducted with adolescents have generally used broad definitional criteria for dating violence and have reported prevalence estimates ranging from 3.6% to 20%.5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 For example, data

Dating Violence in Relation to Youth Mental Health

Several studies have investigated the relation between dating violence and psychopathology in teens.6, 9, 13, 19 Dating violence in adolescence has been linked with suicidality,9, 13 substance use problems,9, 13 emotional distress,19 depression,6 and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms.6 These studies provided important contributions to the literature, but were limited with regard to use of convenience samples, broad definitional criteria for dating violence, and use nondiagnostic

Present Study

Although previous work has greatly extended our knowledge of the problem of dating violence in adolescence, there are several limitations to the existing research. First, many studies have used relatively small sample sizes. Second, many studies used convenience samples that likely have limited generalizability. Third, most studies have focused on adult samples; few have recruited adolescents. Fourth, many of the studies that have focused on adolescents limited their samples to narrow age

Overview

The 2005 National Survey of Adolescents (NSA) is an epidemiological study of 3,614 youths ages 12 to 17 years. The primary goals of the NSA were to identify the population prevalence of major life stressors, such as physical assault, sexual assault, dating violence, and witnessed violence in the home, school, and community; identify the population prevalence of specific mental health disorders known to be associated with exposure to traumatic events; examine risk factors associated with

Prevalence

Overall, the prevalence of serious dating violence among adolescents ages 12 to 17 years was 1.6%. This equates to a population estimate of roughly 400,000 U.S. adolescents, based on 2005 Census data. Sexual assault was the most common form of serious dating violence with a prevalence of 0.9%. Next, the prevalence of physical assault in the context of dating violence was 0.8%, and finally 0.1% of the sample reported having experienced a DAFR by a dating partner. Across the three types of dating

Discussion

This study used a nationally representative sample of adolescents to estimate the prevalence of dating violence in the U.S. population of adolescents, identify risk factors for dating violence, and assess whether experiencing dating violence is associated with PTSD and MDE after controlling for key demographic and other relevant variables. Older age, female sex, and exposure to previous and recent life stressors were associated with greater risk for experiencing dating violence. In addition,

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    This research was supported by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Grant 1R01 HD046830–01 (Dean G. Kilpatrick, principal investigator). The views in this article do not necessarily represent those of the agency supporting this research.

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