Teen Dating Relationships: Understanding and Comparing ...

The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report:

Document Title:

Teen Dating Relationships: Understanding and Comparing Youth and Adult Conceptualizations, Final Report

Author(s):

Concept Systems, Inc.

Document No.:

248464

Date Received:

October 2014

Award Number:

2010F-10092

This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice. To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federallyfunded grant report available electronically.

Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect

the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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TEEN DATING RELATIONSHIPS: UNDERSTANDING AND COMPARING YOUTH AND ADULT

CONCEPTUALIZATIONS

PROJECT SUMMARY REPORT PREPARED FOR:

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF JUSTICE ? OFFICE OF JUSTICE PROGRAMS

FUNDED BY:

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

CONTRACT NO. GS10F0088P

OCTOBER 2014

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 4 Part 1: Concept Mapping .............................................................................................................. 12 Part 2: Facilitated Discussions ...................................................................................................... 32 Part 3: Recommendations ............................................................................................................. 48 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 58 References..................................................................................................................................... 59 Appendices.................................................................................................................................... 64

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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ABSTRACT

As teen dating violence (TDV) incidence has escalated substantially in recent years, a number of research, practice and policy efforts have been championed in response. One critical challenge in effectively addressing teen dating violence relates to the lack of research that directly considers how youth conceptualize teen dating in the first place, apart from specifically aggressive or violent relationships. Most work in this area is instead guided by professionals' assumptions of adolescents' dating experiences, with little sense of how well these assumptions align with teens' reality. The purpose of this study was to directly engage teens and young adults to better understand how youth conceptualize teen dating relationships, and the extent to which youth conceptualizations comport with those of adults in the field. Group concept mapping was used capture, compare, and visually represent perspectives of teen dating relationships across samples of teens ages 14-18, young adults ages 19-22, and adult professionals. Subsequent facilitated discussions with samples of these three groups augmented the concept map results with additional insight around the complexities and nuances of teen dating relationships, including implications for TDV research and prevention. A single concept map co-authored by youth and adults describe teen dating relationships using 100 ideas, 9 constructs, and 2 conceptual dimensions. Across groups, substantial agreement emerged on the characteristics of teen dating, the interrelationships among those characteristics, and participants' opinions on their frequency and desirability. Discussions confirmed the validity of the map content and organization, and emphasized the interaction of positive and negative behaviors, emotions, and cognitions in teen dating as highly relevant for TDV initiatives. Youth tend to conceptualize dating relationships as progressing through "stages," and note generally difficulties in maintaining self-awareness while in a romantic relationship. The salience of peer networks and the high school environment were also highly relevant to youth conceptualizations, while both youth and professionals observed a general disconnect in how youth and adults communicate around dating relationships. The results of this project strongly suggest that research and programming efforts focus on the confluence of positive and negative dating aspects in shaping youth's ability to recognize unhealthy dating characteristics, and embrace a more multidimensional, contextually and temporally sensitive approach to work in the field. The resultant framework provides a robust basis for ongoing work in this area that directly reflects the experiences and vernacular of teens and young adults.

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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INTRODUCTION

Adolescent dating violence has surfaced as a significant public health issue. In recent national surveys, nearly ten percent of high school students reported being purposefully hit, slapped or physically injured by their partner within the past year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011 Youth Risk Behavior Survey). One in five women and one in seven men who ever experience rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner first experienced some form of partner violence between 11 and 17 years of age (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey).

More recent studies also underscore the staggering prevalence of teen dating violence (TDV) prevalence among high school and college student populations. In a random sample of university students, over sixty percent retrospectively report having been victims of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse between the ages of 13 and 19, most of whom also reported multiple occurrences of abuse (Bonomi et al., 2012). In another national study of youth ages 12 through 17, all youth reporting TDV victimization also reported at least one other type of victimization, suggesting a close tie between TDV and forms of child maltreatment and polyvictimization (Finkelhor, Turner, & Hamby, 2012).

Beyond incidence, the field has also explored antecedents, outcomes, and the nature of teen dating violence from multiple perspectives. Researchers have studied the link between exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV) and TDV, finding a significant positive association between IPV exposure and TDV victimization (Garrido & Taussig, 2013) and perpetration (Jouriles, Mueller, Rosenfield, McDonald, & Dodson, 2012). This line of research has also suggested that positive parenting practices and pro-social peers play a role in mitigating involvement in violent dating behavior. Other efforts have focused on understanding TDV in the context of socioeconomic status, racism, and high-risk neighborhoods (Henry & Zeytinoglu, 2012); associations with sexual risk-taking (Hipwell et al., 2013); virtual perpetration (Korchmaros, Ybarra, Langhinrichsen-Rohling, Boyd, & Lenhart, 2013; Zweig, Lachman, Yahner, & Dank, 2013); youth beliefs about dating violence acceptability (Mueller, Jouriles, McDonald, & Rosenfield, 2013), and gender attitudes and behaviors as they relate to norms and perpetration of dating violence (Reed, Silverman, Raj, Decker, & Miller, 2011; McCauley et al., 2013).

The extent of this issue is widespread and complex. As researchers continue to expand the breadth and depth of understanding TDV, policy makers, practitioners, programmers and researchers have turned attention toward developing effective responses to stem future occurrence. Some of these initiatives, such as Dating Matters, are designed to explicitly address the co-occurrence of TDV with other adolescent risk behaviors and social influences that impact dating violence (Tharp, 2012). Other prevention and education initiatives such as the Youth Relationships Project (Wolfe et al., 2003, 2009), Shifting Boundaries (Taylor, Stein, Mumford, & Woods, 2013) and The Fourth R (Crooks, Chiodo, Zwarych, Hughes, & Wolfe, 2013; Wolfe et al., 2009) have been applied and evaluated to suggest positive behavioral and attitudinal changes from participants' baseline self-reports. Perhaps most extensively evaluated is the Safe Dates program, which has been shown to effectively change dating gender norms, improve peer support and conflict resolution skills, and decrease dating violence overall up to one year

This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)

and do not necessarily reflect the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.

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