Session: Dating Violence from Early Adolescence to Young Adulthood: Measurement and Stability (Society for Prevention Research 22nd Annual Meeting)

Dating aggression in adolescence has significant implications for long term development and is an important risk factor for later dating aggression and intimate partner violence in adulthood. The potential of behavior patterns learned during adolescence to place youth on a trajectory that leads toward continued dating aggression into adulthood underscores the need to interrupt this cycle and change these patterns as early as possible. However, this research is often confounded by use of measures with unknown psychometric properties, exclusive focus on physical assault, without consideration of emotional or psychological aggression, and gender differences. This symposium session will present three studies designed to examine these measurement issues across three distinct age groups: early adolescents (i.e., middle school), middle to late adolescents (i.e., high school) and young adults.

The first paper analyzes the structure of dating aggression in our youngest daters, middle school students, and illustrates distinct constructs of perpetration and victimization of both physical and psychological aggression, with specific focus on gender, time, and seasonal differences. Importantly, this paper will also address the discriminant validity of dating aggression from other forms of peer aggression, which are common in early adolescents.

The second paper builds on these different forms of dating aggression to examine stability and change of both physical and emotional (i.e., psychological) dating violence victimization. Importantly, this study identified three distinct groups of adolescents related to dating violence (Non-Victimized, Emotionally Victimized, Emotionally and Physically Victimized) and also examined how interparental violence moderates the impact of moving from being non-victimized to victimized within dating relationships.

The final paper will present findings from three studies examining the impact of how intimate partner violence items are worded in self-report measures. These studies demonstrate how changes in wording of items can significantly impact our estimates of intimate partner violence victimization, specifically for females.

To conclude, our discussant will provide a summary statement and present a review of the current literature related to measurement issues in defining dating aggression constructs and its impact on policy and prevention efforts. Further, she will moderate a discussion between the presenters and the symposium attendees. Given that common definitions and psychometrically sound measurement of dating aggression are a necessary first step toward solid prevention efforts to reduce the occurrence and ill effects of dating aggression, this symposium will be of significant interest to SPR participants.