Session: Longitudinal Predictors of Teen Dating Violence Perpetration: Importance of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Protective Factors (Society for Prevention Research 27th Annual Meeting)

Teen dating violence (TDV) is defined as physical, sexual, or psychological/emotional violence occurring between current or former teen dating partners (CDC, 2018). In a 2017 nationally representative sample of high school students who dated in the past year, 8.0% experienced physical dating violence victimization and 6.9% experienced sexual dating violence victimization in the past year; prevalence for TDV varied by sex, with girls reporting higher victimization rates than boys. Given the prevalence and consequences of this behavior, empirically informed prevention is critical. Substantial research on TDV victimization, however, less work has been done to examine perpetration directly (Dardis et al., 2015). Evidence suggests that there is no one risk factor that strongly predicts perpetration behavior, but rather a confluence of factors (Vagi et al., 2013). This symposium includes three papers on longitudinal risk and protective factors associated with TDV perpetration across adolescence.

Informed by social learning theories, the first paper, “Exploring Interpersonal Risk Factors for Teen Dating Violence Longitudinally Across Adolescence ” models personal (anxiety, depression, impulsivity, justification of violence, conflictual relationship style) and interpersonal (bullying, sexual harassment, and homophobic name-calling) risk markers in a series of multilevel growth curve models predicting physical and verbal TDV. Findings contribute to literature on learned pathways to violence, and indicate generalizability across forms of interpersonal violence that occur across a power dynamic.

The second paper, “Buffering Effects of Protective Factors on the Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Teen Dating Violence Perpetration among Early Adolescents,” used a parallel process growth mixture model to model simultaneous heterogeneity in family conflict and community violence exposure during middle school and latent class analysis to model heterogeneity in TDV classes in high school and identify how protective factors predict class membership. Protective factors buffered the relationship between ACEs and TDV perpetration depending on the balance of and changes in ACEs. Findings highlight important opportunities to intervene and prevent violence across adolescence, and beyond.

The third paper, “Teen Dating Violence Perpetration: Protective Factor Trajectories from Middle to High School among Adolescents” examined longitudinal trajectories of potential protective factors for TDV (empathy, social support, parental monitoring, and school belonging) across middle and high school. All protective factors differentiated between perpetrators and non-perpetrators of TDV; higher levels of protective factors were found for non-perpetrators. These trajectories varied for boys and for girls and across types of TDV. Prevention programs that include these protective factors have potential to reduce TDV.