Prevalence and characteristics of three subtypes of dating violence among Danish seventh-grade students

Abstract

Background: A high prevalence of adolescent dating violence (ADV) has been documented in recent years. However, the majority of ADV studies have been conducted in North America and moreover, ADV studies have primarily focused on high school or college populations. Objective: To investigate victimization and perpetration of ADV and related gender differences in a sample of Danish seventh-grade students. Method: In total, 2934 seventh-grade students (M = 3.5, SD = 0.5) filled out questionnaires at school. Results: The prevalence of victimization of emotional, physical and sexual ADV was 32.2%, 11.2% and 10.6%, and the prevalence of perpetration of emotional, physical and sexual ADV was 20.6%, 6% and 2.1%. One out of five students reported both victimization and perpetration of one of the three ADV types and 14.3% and 6% reported multiple forms of ADV victimization and perpetration respectively. Moreover, gender differences in the prevalence of ADV and the co-occurrence of ADV victimization and perpetration were identified. Conclusion: The present study highlights that a large proportion of Danish seventh-grade students are experiencing ADV, and that ADV preventive programs are relevant already in early adolescence. Based on the high proportion of students reporting co-occurrence of victimization and perpetration experiences, comprehensive preventive programs that focus on both victimization and perpetration experiences and the transmission of violence are recommended.

Assessing Adolescent Dating Violence in the YourLife Project: Proposal of an Instrument for Spanish-Speaking Countries

“…Physical/sexual violence yielded the lowest scores. These findings are consistent with scientific research about ADV showing that psychological violence is more frequent among adolescents than physical or sexual violence [ 3 , 4 ]. Although the prevalence of dating violence in this study was low, the ADV-YL tool seems to adequately distinguish different forms of dating violence.…”

“…We found moderate correlations between all types of suffered and perpetrated ADV. This confirms the specific pattern of dating violence during adolescence, where reciprocal aggression seems to be common [ 4 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. This finding has important implications.…”

“…According to studies from the USA and European countries, psychological ADV is more frequent than physical or sexual violence [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. Several studies, conducted in Spain and in the USA, also find a peak in physical partner violence at the age of 16–17 [ 7 , 8 , 9 ].…”

“…Prevalence of perpetration of sexual and physical ADV is higher among boys, while psychological ADV is perpetrated more commonly by girls [ 2 ]. Bidirectional aggression (members of the couple being both perpetrators and victims in that same romantic relationship) is common among adolescents [ 4 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ].…”

Patterns of childhood abuse and dating violence victimization among early adolescents from Denmark: A latent class approach.

“…Estimates from nationally representative surveys in the United States suggest that approximately 10% of high school students have experienced physical and/or sexual ADV (Haynie et al, 2013; Kann et al, 2016) and that 25% have experienced emotional ADV in the past 12 months (Haynie et al, 2013). Until recently, research on ADV in early adolescence (i.e., 12–15 years) has been scarce; however, an increasing number of studies have documented a high prevalence of ADV victimization in this age-group (Barter, Mccarry, Berridge, & Evans, 2009; Karsberg, Bramsen, Lasgaard, & Elklit, 2017; Leen et al, 2013; Simon, Miller, Gorman-Smith, Orpinas, & Sullivan, 2010).…”