Effects of a Middle School Social-Emotional Learning Program on Teen Dating Violence, Sexual Violence, and Substance Use in High School

Introduction: The purpose of this research project was to follow an existing middle school sample (part of a bullying and sexual violence prevention RCT using the Second Step program) into 5 high schools in Illinois, allowing the assessment of correspondence between trajectories in youth aggression and teen dating violence. While research has documented that bullying is associated with other forms of aggression, there remains a dearth of knowledge regarding the extent to which these two behaviors are related into high school. This study leveraged an existing RCT of The Second Step anti-bullying program, which was implemented when the sample of students was in middle school, by measuring related aggressive behaviors (e.g., sexual aggression) during the high school years.

Method: Approximately 1,200 students from 5 high schools in Illinois (from 15 of the original 36 middle schools; approximately one third Hispanic, one fourth African American) completed measures across the three year study. Specific aims were to determine whether students who were part of the intervention group in a randomized control trial of Second Step in middle school demonstrated reductions in bullying, sexual violence, and teen dating violence when in high school; to evaluate Second Step program effects on trajectories of bullying, victimization, homophobic teasing, sexual harassment, and teen dating violence in high school.

Results/Conclusions: Group-based semiparametric mixture modeling yielded five distinct trajectories of bullying perpetration across middle-high school: 1) Low (37.8% of the sample); 2) Moderate Flat (51.3% of the sample); 3) High Declining (3.4%); 4) Middle School Peak (4.2%); and 5) Moderate Escalating (3.4%). Dynamic covariates of bully trajectories included empathy, impulsivity, depression, and victimization. High school outcomes included sexual harassment and teen dating violence. Additional models will be presented.