Teen Dating Violence: A Review of Risk Factors and Prevention Efforts

VAWnet is a project of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. “Key risk factors consistently found in the literature to be associated with inflicting dating violence include the following: holding norms accepting or justifying the use of violence in dating relationships (Malik et al., 1997; O’Keefe, 1997); having friends in violent relationships (Arriaga & Foshee, 2004); exposure to violence in one’s family and community violence (Foo & Margolin, 1995, O’Keefe, 1997; Schwartz et al., 1997); alcohol and drug use (O’Keeffe et al., 1986; Silverman et al., 2001); and a having a history of aggression (Riggs & O’Leary, 1989, Chase et al., 1998). The one factor that has consistently been associated with being the victim of dating violence, particularly for males, is inflicting dating violence (O’Keefe, 1997).” In the past several decades dating violence has emerged as a significant social and public health problem. Much of the dating violence research, however, has focused on adult couples or college samples and only recently has attention been paid to dating violence among high school students (e.g., Foshee, 1996; James, West, Deters, & Armijo, 2000; Kreiter et al., 1999). Teen dating violence is a significant problem not only because of its alarming prevalence and physical and mental health consequences (Callahan, Tolman, & Saunders, 2003; Coker, Smith, McKeown, & King, 2000), but also because it occurs at a life stage when romantic relationships are beginning and interactional patterns are learned that may carry over into adulthood (Werkerle & Wolfe, 1999). Teen dating violence ranges from emotional and verbal abuse to rape and murder and appears to parallel the continuum of adult domestic violence (Sousa, 1999). Adolescents often have difficulty recognizing physical and sexual abuse as such and may perceive controlling and jealous behaviors as signs of love (Levy, 1990). Perhaps due to their need for autonomy and greater reliance on peers, teens involved in dating violence seldom report the violence to a parent or adult; if it is reported, most tell a friend and the incident never reaches an adult who could help (Cohall, 1999).