EHE News
Preventing Teen Dating Violence: We Need to Start Early
Introduction
Adolescents experience physical, psychological, and sexual relationship violence at alarming rates. A recent survey of Ohio State students showed, for example, that of the nearly 7,000 male and female respondents, a significant number--43%--reported that the hitting or beating of women by boyfriends or husbands is a problem among students.
We know that we need to stop this kind of behavior. Amy Bonomi, PhD, MPH a new associate professor in the college's Department of Human Development and Family Science, has studied relationship violence extensively. She was recently featured on CNN, MSNBC, and National Public Radio talking about her research which showed that a staggering number—44%—of insured women in a Washington state health plan had experienced abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime. As part of this same study, she documented for the first time that the mental and social health of women who experienced physical or sexual relationship violence in the past five years is comparable to or worse than the health of persons with diabetes and some forms of cancer.
Problems this severe don't develop overnight. To stop them, Dr. Bonomi agrees that awareness campaigns are very much needed, but waiting to target high school and college students may be too late. Research shows that many adolescents become victims or perpetrators of violence in their early dating experiences.
Once relationship violence has occurred, there is high likelihood that it will occur again—in the same relationship and/or in new relationships. School districts should start talking about respect and love before dating begins.
This research brief presents Dr. Bonomi's thoughts and findings on the subject of preventing teen dating violence.
What we know about the problem
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention define relationship violence as actual or threatened physical and/or sexual violence used by an intimate partner to cause death, disability, injury, or harm to victims, and psychological abuse used to cause trauma in victims.
Approximately 11 percent of dating 8 th- and 9 th-graders are victims of sexually violent acts such as forced sex and forced intimate contact, and 35 percent are victims of nonsexual acts, such as being pushed, slapped, or kicked by a dating partner. Almost 3 percent of dating adolescents commit sexually violent acts, and almost 20 percent perpetrate nonsexual, physically violent acts among adolescents of this age group.
Victims are more likely than others to experience a range of adverse health consequences. For example, as compared to adolescent girls not exposed to relationship violence, those exposed to some form of relationship violence report lower quality of life and higher rates of:
- suicidal thoughts and attempts,
- pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases,
- heavy smoking and alcohol use,
- driving under the influence of alcohol and cocaine use, and
- eating disorders.
What research shows about solutions
To reduce the problem of relationship violence—and the associated costs to victims, families, and communities—researchers and educators must develop viable prevention models. These models should address relationship violence in youth before they start dating.
Early prevention increases the likelihood that violence can be prevented from the start and that important risk factors for relationship violence perpetration and victimization are addressed. Research suggests that relationship violence occurrence is increased if youth--
- expect positive results from the use of violence,
- accept the use of violence to resolve conflict,
- have witnessed relationship violence at home, and
- have traditional gender role expectations.
Intervening with youth on these salient risk factors increases the likelihood that they will grow into young adults who use prosocial conflict resolution and problem-solving behaviors. It increases the likelihood that they will have healthy beliefs about intimate relationships.
School-based preventive interventions—such as the well-designed and tested Safe Dates program—are among the most promising approaches to violence prevention for adolescents. Safe Dates targets 8 th and 9 th grade dating and non-dating youth, using a multi-faceted prevention approach that includes—
- a 10-session curriculum (instruction, role playing and analyzing scenarios, and writing exercises);
- a student theater performance; and
- a poster contest.
Students in schools that used the Safe Dates program had less psychological abuse, sexual violence, and violence perpetrated against a dating partner compared to students in schools that did not receive Safe Dates. Greater improvements were also observed in students who took part in the Safe Dates program in dating violence norms, gender stereotyping, and awareness of services to help victims—factors that are associated with violence perpetration and victimization.
Schools provide an ideal context for organizing peer activities designed to promote and allow practice of prosocial interactions. In schools, educators are more likely to have access to high risk youth due to mandatory school attendance and can help model prosocial behaviors for students. Health promotion and drama teachers can offer behavior change content as part of their program's curricula.
The Safe Dates program offers numerous strengths, relationship violence prevention programs. However, researchers now think that programs targeting younger youth before they begin dating—youth transitioning to the 6 th and 7 th grade—may have larger effects.
Violence prevention experts give the following reasons for targeting such programs to youth transitioning to middle school:
- At this age, peers become the primary focus of relationships. This provides an ideal time to identify and influence negative beliefs and patterns of behavior related to relationship violence.
- Many youth in this age group have not begun dating, and therefore first time acts of violence can be avoided.
- Many youth do not have fully developed beliefs and behavior patterns that put them at risk.
- Youth may be less likely to have fully developed beliefs about the right to victimize others based on gender stereotypes and ideas about domination.
Next steps
Dr. Bonomi, who joined the college this autumn, is developing a research study using an innovative theater approach to prevent relationship violence among middle school-aged youth. It is based on social cognitive and learning theories which suggest that to shape youth behaviors successfully, youth require ongoing, interactive rehearsal of these behaviors. During rehearsal, they have the chance to change the way they think about the use of violence and to practice healthy conflict resolution.
The approach draws on Augusto Boal's world-renowned Theatre of the Oppressed, which has been used to help adolescents identify solutions to problems including violence. Oppression, according to Boal, is when one person's monologue dominates another, with no chance to reply. In traditional theater, the monologue of the play dominates the audience. Theatre of the Oppressed, by contrast, fosters democratic forms of dialogue between actors and audience members to devise solutions to real world problems. Because of the interactive component, Theatre of the Oppressed methods give youth the opportunity to develop sanctions collectively against using violence and to practice prosocial behavioral alternatives to relationship violence.
The approach is unique because it focuses on adolescents of pre-dating age and emphasizes ongoing behavioral rehearsal necessary for helping youth maintain prosocial behaviors across settings, relationships, and time.
Dr. Bonomi is leading these efforts along with her colleagues Todd Herrenkohl, PhD, associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Washington, and David Grossman, MD, MPH, director of preventive care and senior investigator at Group Health Cooperative.
Dr. Bonomi has been a co-investigator of more than $3+ million in federal funding. She is currently principal investigator of a prestigious grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studying neighborhood risk and protective factors for relationship violence—a project that recognizes that relationship violence, like many other health-related problems, occurs within the larger context of communities.