Does Gottman’s Marital Communication Conceptualization Inform Teen Dating Violence? Communication Skill Deficits Analyzed Across Three Samples of Diverse Adolescents

Communication skill deficits are thought to contribute to teen dating violence (TDV), parallel to the inclusion of these throughout prevention curricula. Communication research among adolescents is highly underdeveloped, although a preliminary study utilizing Gottman’s marital communication conceptualization found that a majority of negative communication behaviors predictive of marital distress were also associated with relationship aggression among primarily White college students. Our aim was to replicate this study with diverse samples of adolescents (50.3% Latino, 23.5% Black; Mage = 16.06). Urban high school youth, pregnant and parenting youth in residential foster care, and youth in urban after-school programs self-reported on their use of maladaptive and adaptive communication behaviors, relationship quality (i.e., satisfaction, commitment), and emotional, physical, sexual, relational, and threatening dating violence. Across samples, maladaptive communication and particularly flooding (i.e., the tendency to become overwhelmed, leave the argument) and the four horsemen (i.e., a cascading and negative communication sequence) were associated with higher likelihood of multiple types of TDV. Relationship quality was associated with decreased likelihood for TDV among high school and after-school youth samples, but with increased likelihood among youth in foster care. Results indicate that youth utilize a wide range of both adaptive and maladaptive communication behaviors, and that similar maladaptive patterns predictive of relationship distress in young adulthood and in marriage are also associated with distress in adolescents’ dating relationships. Equipping youth with adaptive communication skills as part of a comprehensive approach to reducing TDV and enhancing healthy relationships is meaningful for diverse adolescents. Further research is warranted concerning youth’s perceptions of relationship quality and risk of TDV

Parent Physical and Psychological Aggression and Youth Dating Violence: A Latent Class Analysis Approach

Adolescent dating violence is a national public health issue and research suggests that aggressive parenting may predict the likelihood that a child will subsequently experience abuse. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of parent physical and psychological aggression on adolescent dating violence perpetration and victimization. Data derived from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study resulted in a racially and ethnically diverse sample of adolescents in dating relationships at the age of 15 years (N = 952). Utilizing both parent and adolescent data which assessed parenting practices at ages 3, 5, 9, and 15, and adolescent dating violence victimization and perpetration at age 15, we analyzed the data using a latest class analysis. Youth were typologized into three classes: the non-physically aggressive parenting, nonaggressive dating class (Class 1; 16% of youth), the aggressive parenting, nonaggressive dating class (Class 2; 76% of youth), and the aggressive parenting, aggressive dating class (Class 3; 8% of youth). Parents across all three classes utilized high levels of psychologically aggressive parenting. An important finding from this study is that parents’ use of both physically and psychologically aggressive parenting only predicted subsequent dating violence victimization and perpetration among a small portion of adolescents. Findings suggest that additional risk factors, including household income and adolescent impulsivity, may help to elucidate pathways to adolescent dating violence. There is also a need to further explore the resiliency factors at play for youth who, despite having experienced both psychologically and physically aggressive parenting across the lifespan, did not experience dating violence victimization or perpetration

Cyber and offline dating abuse in a portuguese sample: prevalence and context of abuse

The increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT) and networking has promoted the occurrence of different forms of victimization, specifically in terms of interpersonal interaction (e.g., cyberbullying or online risk-taking behaviour), which also includes cyber dating abuse (CDA). Some studies report that CDA is an extension of offline dating abuse (ODA). Because Portuguese studies in this area are scarce, this study aims to bridge this knowledge gap, seeking to investigate the extent and the context of CDA occurrence, and the relationship between CDA and all forms of ODA, i.e., physical, verbal-emotional and control. A convenience sample of 173 Portuguese adolescents and young adults was studied. This sample is mostly female (86.7%), has a mean (M) age of 25.36 years old and a standard deviation (SD) of 6.88 years of age. The results show that CDA and ODA among the Portuguese are very prevalent and related. Control (31.8 vs. 20.8%) and verbal-emotional ODA (26.7 vs. 20.2%) as well as control CDA (38.2 vs. 43.4%) were the most prevalent forms of abuse, either in terms of victimization or in terms of perpetration. The results also showed that CDA usually appears in a context of jealousy, also explaining control CDA and CDA direct aggression. A significant relationship between control CDA and CDA direct aggression and physical, verbal-emotional and control ODA was found. Experiencing control and verbal-emotional ODA are the main risk factors of control CDA victimization. This study allows to lay the groundwork for further research on dating victimization and perpetration through ICT, and has important practical implications at the level of Portuguese prevention strategies and intervention policies, thus emphasizing the role of the official authorities and the law itself.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Bullying in a networked era: a literature review

This research update presents an aggregation and summary of recent academic literature on youth bullying. The purpose of this document is to “translate” scholarly research for a concerned public audience, which may include but is not limited to parents, caregivers, educators, and practitioners. This translation highlights recent findings and developments in the literature and makes them accessible to the informed but non-expert reader. The document’s two guiding questions are “What is bullying?” (Section I) and “What can be done about bullying?” (Section II). Section I begins with a brief overview of key definitions and related research conversations and then addresses bullying’s prevalence, the types of individuals involved in bullying, the characteristics of individuals involved and the consequences of their involvement, and community-level dynamics related to bullying. Section II covers four areas where action has been taken to address problems associated with bullying – school policy, curricula, school climate, and parents – and ends on a note about approaches that mix or cut across these areas. The purpose is to render lessons learned from research and assessment accessible to those interested in deepening or expanding their knowledge of bullying-related issues

Teen Dating Violence: Attitudes And The Mediating Role Of Self-Control From A Social-Ecological Perspective

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Teen Dating Violence (TDV) attitudes and environmental and self-control constructs using structural equation models. First, adolescents (N=1236) attitudes about TDV were analyzed to determine if consistent distinct subtypes emerged. Distinct subtypes of TDV attitudes were identified: Very Unacceptable, Moderately Unacceptable, Verbal Aggression and Checking Behavior. Next the direct relationship between subtypes of TDV attitudes and self-control and environmental constructs, neighborhood disorganization, extracurricular activities and parental supervision, were investigated. TDV subtypes did indeed show unique relationships with environmental and self-control factors, further supporting the distinct types of teen dating violence (TDV). In particular, parental supervision associated with reduced tolerance for TDV, while self-centeredness, risk-seeking and low frustration tolerance self-control factors, as well as neighborhood disorganization were associated with greater tolerance for TDV. Finally, the potential mediation of the relationship between environmental constructs and TDV subtypes by self-control constructs was tested. Indirect effects of neighborhood disorganization on most subtypes of TDV were found to be mediated by self-centeredness. Parental supervision was directly associated with less tolerance for most types of TDV, but also showed strong indirect effects via greater reported frustration tolerance and less risk seeking. Implications for research, prevention and interventions on TDV are discussed

Measuring Cyber Dating Violence: Reliability and Validity of the Escala de CiberViolencia en Parejas Adolescentes (Cib-VPA) in Spanish Young Adults

The aim of this study was to obtain validity evidence of the Escala de Ciber-Violencia en Parejas Adolescentes (Cib-VPA) in the Spanish young adults. A total of 298 undergraduate students (222 women, 75 men and 2 people who identified themselves as 'other') completed the Cib-VPA and other related measures of offline and online dating violence. Internal consistency and construct, convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated. In line with the original validation study, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided evidence for an 18-item model comprising 2 subscales, with 2 factors per subscale. All had acceptable internal consistency values. Total and subscale scores correlated positively with online and offline dating violence measures, with these correlations being stronger in subscales evaluating violence in the same direction (perpetrated or victimisation). As expected, no differences were observed according to gender. This study shows validity evidences of Cib-VPA scores, which can be quickly and inexpensively administered to large samples of young adults.The Research Project was sponsored by the University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, with grant number PPGA20/09 and GIU20/003

Youth cyber dating abuse: a meta-analysis of risk and protective factors

yber Dating Abuse (CDA) has been identified as a prevalent and negative experience for youth, which highlights the need to identify the factors associated with the occurrence of this phenomenon. Thus, this meta-analysis aims to determine the factors associated with youth CDA perpetration and victimization, identifying which of the factors present the strongest risk and protective effects. We identified 16 studies and 17 independent samples, including a total sample of 12,760 adolescents and young adults. Results showed that individual and intimate relation factors were related to both CDA perpetration and victimization, and peer factors were significantly associated with CDA perpetration; individual sociodemographic factors were unrelated to CDA. Findings from this metaanalysis provide valuable evidence to develop CDA prevention and intervention strategies.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploring Adolescent Dating Violence in Rural Communities: A Mixed Methods Study

Adolescent dating violence (ADV) occurs nearly twice as often among rural adolescents than it does among non-rural adolescents. Research has suggested several reasons for this population difference. First, people in the rural context oftentimes have traditional gender role attitudestowards male dominance over women, which can be displayed in the form of relationship violence. People in the rural context also tend to have less access to friends and resources (e.g., social services), whichcan further perpetuate violence by limiting a victim’s opportunity to seek help. In addition, rural individuals tend to have a reduced sense of anonymity, and thus, victims may be reluctant to seek help for fear that their community will criticize them. Research has examined these rural sociocultural aspects in regards to adult relationship violence, but research on rural ADV has yet to examine these factors. This study uses a concurrent nested mixed methods design where the qualitative phase is embedded in the predominant quantitative phase. The purpose of this study is to understand how aspects of the rural context are associated with attitudes toward and experiences of ADV. A convenience sample of 208 rural Nebraska adolescents (ages 13-19) was used to answer a survey regarding rural sociocultural aspects and ADV. Quantitative research questions were addressed with structural equation modeling and moderation analyses. The qualitative research question was addressed using content analysis. Findings reveal that hostile sexist gender role attitudes significantly predict ADV victimization. Benevolent sexist and hostile sexist attitudes are associated with favorable attitudes towards ADV. However, results from structural equation modeling did not provide support for the isolation and anonymity hypotheses. Moreover, participants’ parents impact their relationships in a variety of ways. Adolescents learn how individuals should act in relationships through their parents, parents provide social support for relationships to many adolescents, and many adolescents report that their parents are completely aware of their dating behaviors. Nonetheless, many parents reinforced traditional gender roles, provided no social support, and were not aware of their child’s relationships. These findings have implications for prevention, intervention, and policy regarding relationship education efforts. Advisor: Yan Ruth Xi

Image-based sexual violence: Victim experiences and bystander responses

Advances in internet-enabled and social networking technologies have permeated modern life, changing the nature of social interactions, including how sexual violence is committed and experienced. A novel form of technology-facilitated sexual violence is the use of technology to take, share, or otherwise use sexual images of another person without their consent, termed image-based sexual violence (IBSV). This is not widely thought of as a form of sexual violence and the impact on women and girls is often minimized despite emerging evidence that these experiences are both common and distressing. This form of violence has only begun to be studied, but the accounts that exist suggest that these acts may be similar to traditional (offline) sexual violence in some ways and differ significantly in others. The internet and networked technologies allow sexual images to be spread quickly and indefinitely to vast audiences, which may result in negative social and psychological outcomes for victims beyond, or that differ from, those that exist for other forms of sexual violence. Technology also introduces a social element to these acts, as non-consensual use of sexual images is often social (e.g., an image is sent to or viewed by others) which has implications both for victims’ experiences and prevention. Individuals who receive or view the images are considered bystanders and represent an important population to study as they are uniquely positioned to either intervene in prosocial ways (e.g., by preventing future misuse of the image) or to transition into perpetration (e.g., by forwarding an image). The current project contributes to the nascent literature on IBSV through a series of three online studies that investigated victims and bystanders. Study 1 explored key psychological symptoms and social changes inadult women victims of IBSV. A minority of women had symptoms of depression, trauma, and anxiety within clinical levels and about 60% had changes to some of their relationships. Study 2 contextualizes the quantitative findings of Study 1, deepening our understanding of women’s experiences. Using a qualitative method, Study 2 examined how women conceptualized and labeled their experiences of IBSV. Women’s experiences were similar to victims of offline sexual violence, and were fell into two braod categories – themes decribing emotional reactions, which were more common when the incident occurred, and themes that involved processing or meaning-making, which reflected women’s current thoughts and feelings about the incident. None of the labels which women used to describe these acts (e.g., betrayal) alluded to their gendered nature. Study 3 explored the impact of group size, gender, peer norms, and attributions of victim blame and responsibility on bystanders’ self-reported likelihood of helping in a hypothetical scenario in which they receive a sexual image forwarded without consent. Group size was experimentally varied. Only victim blame, gender, and peer norms around image sharing predicted intent to help. Taken together, Studies 1 and 2 enhance our understanding of the impact of IBSV for victims so that this form of violence can be established as worthy of serious consideration, future study, and intervention. Study 3 illuminates several factors that may impact bystander responses to inform intervention and educational efforts. A secondary aim of the project was to explore ways in which IBSV is similar to, and different from, traditional sexual violence. The current studies identified similarities in women’s accounts and outcomes between offline and IBSV, as well as identified variables that influence bystander behaviour offline as well as when responding to image-. These findings suggest that existing interventions to prevent sexual violence (in the case of bystanders) and support victims may be adapted for IBSV. Most importantly, when synthesizing across the three studies, the findings suggest that the larger social and cultural context that supports violence against women offline also supports such violence in online spaces, underscoring the need for systemic change