Teen Dating Violence Perpetration: Protective Factor Trajectories from Middle to High School among Adolescents

Abstract

Protecting adolescents from the risk of teen dating violence (TDV) perpetration is critical to enhancing prevention efforts. This study examined longitudinal trajectories of four protective factors (i.e., empathy, social support, parental monitoring, and school belonging) across adolescence in relation to four TDV types (i.e., verbal, relational, physical, and sexual). Adolescents (n = 1,668) who reported being in a relationship or dating during high school completed self‐report measures from middle through high school. Results indicated that all protective factors differentiated between TDV perpetrators and nonperpetrators, although these trajectories varied for boys and for girls and across the different types of TDV. Overall, youth who did not perpetrate TDV in high school generally displayed higher protective factors across the TDV perpetration types.

Relations among Romantic Myths, Offline Dating Violence Victimization and Cyber Dating Violence Victimization in Adolescents

“…Physical offline DV victimization could be a higher risk factor of cyber DV victimization for girls, who would also be more likely to suffer cyber-aggression and cyber-control by their partners, and with more serious consequences for their psychosocial adjustment. These differences between boys and girls highlight the need to take a gender perspective in teen dating violence research [22,65,66], as some differences appear in the variables related to different teen DV types in adolescent boys and girls. From this gender perspective, not only should the differences between boys and girls in the relations among variables be analyzed, but also new variables, such as the extent to which girls and boys assume female and male stereotypes, their gender identity or their adhesion to male and female social norms, should be considered.…”

Design and Validation of the Scale TDV-VP Teen Dating Violence: Victimisation and Perpetration [Violencia en Parejas Adolescentes: Victimización y Perpetración] for Spanish Speakers

“…There are also a number of factors that act as protectors against TDV, such as close friendships and conditional tolerance for violence [ 13 ]; or studies that point to a greater risk prediction in experiences of victimisation in the relationship of couples belonging to sexual minority groups [ 14 ]. In terms of predicting the perpetration of dating violence, it is important to study factors such as empathy, social support, parental monitoring and school membership [ 15 ].…”

Is All Dating Violence Equal? Gender and Severity Differences in Predictors of Perpetration

“…In this developmental period, courtship behavior develops, and the risk of teen dating violence (TDV) perpetration and/or victimization emerges [ 2 ]. Various studies have indicated that violence towards a partner peaks in adolescence [ 3 , 4 ]. A 10-year longitudinal study [ 5 ] on men’s aggression over time found a downward linear relationship between age and physical violence perpetration, regardless of changes in relationships.…”

“…Operationalization of the different types of TDV is seen in commonly used scales, such as the Revised Conflict Tactics Scales-2 (CTS2) [ 10 ] and the Conflict in Adolescent Dating Relationships Inventory (CADRI) [ 9 ]. Each scale uses multiple items to generate different subscales for the distinct forms of abuse, recognizing their equal contributions to TDV as a whole [ 3 , 11 ]. In contrast, some studies use single items to assess for abuse (e.g., physical abuse) embedded within a questionnaire [ 12 ].…”