Information Technology, Social Networking, and Controlling Behaviors Among Adolescent Girls Involved in Dating Violence

Introduction: Teen dating violence (DV) occurs on a continuum from verbal/emotional abuse to rape and murder (Foshee et al., 1996). Researchers are beginning to explore the impact of information technologies (IT; e.g., mobile phones) and social networking (SN; e.g., Facebook) on adolescent DV behaviors. Cyber dating abuse victimization has been reported in 26% of currently-dating adolescents’ relationships, is associated with other forms of DV, and is more common among female adolescents (Zweig, Lachman, Yahner, & Dank, 2014). However, little is known about DV-involved adolescent girls’ use of IT and SN or their experiences with cyber victimization and perpetration of controlling behaviors. The present study examines IT, SN, and associated controlling behaviors in a sample of predominantly ethnic minority, economically disadvantaged adolescent girls with a history of DV involvement.

Methods: Data are from the baseline assessment of a randomized controlled trial of a group CBT-based intervention to reduce HIV and DV risk among high-risk adolescent girls. Participants were 109 girls (ages 14-17; M = 15.75) in a medium-sized New England city who endorsed a history of DV in a confidential school-based screening. Racial/ethnic distribution of the sample was 50% Hispanic; 35% African American, 22% White, 8% American Indian, and 3% Asian. 82% qualified for free or reduced-price lunch. Participants completed questionnaires on private laptops, including a 40-item measure of lifetime IT and SN use and controlling behaviors developed for this study.

Results: DV-involved adolescent girls are active users of IT and SN: most participants reported an active profile on a SN site (90%), text messaging (85%), and sending photos online (80%) or via text message (57%). Many own a smartphone (60%) or maintain a personal blog (41%). Some participants also reported making (4%) or viewing others’ (7%) online dating profiles. Participants reported frequent attempts by partners to “check up on” them via IT and SN, by reading their text messages (44%), checking their phone calls (43%), or looking at their SN profile for evidence of flirting (54%). Some teens’ partners asked for their SN password (33%) or buddy list (16%). Many teens reported that they (62%) or their partner (49%) felt jealous after reading the other’s SN profile. Discovering a partner was cheating by reading his/her SN profile (39%) or text messages (20%) was also common. Participants also reported high rates of IT/SN controlling behavior perpetration: many checked their partner’s SN profile to see if someone was flirting with him or her (66%), reviewed cell phone call lists (30%), or read text messages (33%).

Conclusions: This study is the first to examine IT, SN, and controlling behavior perpetration/victimization among predominantly ethnic minority adolescent girls with DV histories. Our findings suggest that controlling behavior victimization and perpetration via IT/SN is common, highlighting the need to address IT and SN in DV prevention for high-risk adolescents. Our results also have policy implications: DV education is mandatory in 15 states, and school-based DV prevention curricula would benefit from incorporating examples of and strategies for avoiding IT/SN controlling behaviors.