Inter-personal Violence and Abuse in Adolescent Intimate Relationships: Mental Health Impact and Implications for Practice

This paper provides a narrative review of the knowledge on interpersonal violence and abuse (IPVA) in adolescents’ intimate relationships. It draws on the authors’ own research, published reviews and a rapid review on IPVA victimisation and mental health outcomes for adolescents. The research reviewed identified associations between adolescent IPVA and substance misuse, depressive symptoms and PTSD, eating disorders and suicidal thinking and behaviour in young people. Generally, girls appeared more likely to report severemental health outcomes than boys. Adolescents rarely disclose IPVA to adults and delivering preventative programmes that promote knowledge and help seeking may offer a means of building on young people’s tendency to seek help from friends. These preventative interventions, usually delivered in schools, need to be closely linked to support services for adolescents who disclose abuse. While there are some practice examples of emerging interventions for both victims and perpetrators of adolescent IPVA, there is as yet little robust evidence regarding their effectiveness

Violence and abuse in young people's intimate relationships: Interface of gender, prevalence, impact and implications for prevention

This chapter outlines the issue of interpersonal violence and abuse (IPVA), including controlling behaviours, in the intimate relationships of young people aged 13 to 17 years-old. Findings from three studies, undertaken by the author alongside colleagues, are used to demonstrate the prevalence and impact of IPVA in young relationships, including some exploration of young people’s own narratives and understandings. Two of the studies (Barter et al; 2009, Wood et al 2010) explored physical, sexual and emotional forms of IPVA in the UK. The third study (Barter et al 2015) ‘Safeguarding Teenage Intimate Relationships’, known as ‘STIR’, addressed the ways in which new technologies were used in young people’s relationships to both reinforce other forms of face-to-face IPVA as well as constituting a discrete form of abuse. Building on these findings, the second half of the chapter addresses what we can do to prevent this form of abuse in young people’s lives, and discusses the app that was developed as part of the STIR project. Most international research on IPVA in young people’s relationships has addressed three forms of abuse: physical; sexual and emotional/psychological. However, more recent studies have sought to examine the issue of abuse though new technologies, examine one or more of the following components: emotional online abuse (e.g. posting nasty/derogatory online messages); controlling behaviour (e.g. using mobile phones or social networking sites to try and control who someone can be friends with/where they go/or how to dress); surveillance (e.g. constantly checking on what partners have been doing /who they you have been seeing, demanding passwords to online social media accounts ); social isolation (e.g. attempting to isolate partners from friends by posting untrue/derogatory messages from their phones etc.) and coerced sexting. It is important to remember that in practice different forms of IPVA often intersect

Research ethics in practice: Lessons from studies exploring intimate partner violence in different contexts

Studies researching interpersonal violence (IPV) are associated with a range of ethical challenges. In this paper, lessons are drawn from three case studies exploring the experiences of different groups of survivors and perpetrators of IPV in diverse contexts: refugees in the Thailand-Burma border area; partner-violent adult men and female survivors in Ireland; and, school children in five European countries. The ethical – and associated methodological - challenges faced, and the ways in which they were overcome, are presented. Drawing on the case studies presented, the paper concludes that three key areas require special attention when conducting research in this field: accessing and recruiting participants, researcher skills and experience, and appropriate use of data

Rapid Evidence Assessment: What can be learnt from other jurisdictions about preventing and responding to child sexual abuse

This Rapid Evidence Assessment was commissioned by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales which is investigating whether public bodies and other non-state institutions have taken seriously their duties to care for and protect children and young people from child sexual abuse and exploitation. The question for the review was: What can be learnt from jurisdictions, outside of England and Wales, about the role of institutions, including accountable state and non-state organisations with responsibility for children in preventing and responding to child sexual abuse and exploitation? Key messages ● No jurisdiction has everything ‘right’. While overall robust research on what is effective is limited, there is plenty of promising evidence that can be developed further to inform work in England and Wales. ● Adequately resourced, comprehensive, multi sector approaches that aim to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse and exploitation are likely to be the most effective approaches. ● Effective responses are those able to meet the complexity and diversity of the needs of children and young people who are vulnerable or affected. ● Work with sexual offenders could broaden out to include earlier intervention to prevent offending by adults and adolescents who have not been convicted. Findings Primary prevention None of the jurisdictions1 included in the review had a comprehensive approach combining primary prevention and response but we found more evidence of prevention efforts in Australia, Finland, Norway, Sweden and the USA. Changing attitudes and behaviour by education or awareness raising - There is moderately good evidence from Canada and the USA that pre-school and school based education programmes on child sexual abuse are effective at teaching children to recognise inappropriate behaviour and improving their knowledge of self protection. Research in Australia and the USA supports whole school approaches and involving parents, faith and community groups. Public education and social marketing campaigns to prevent abuse are commonly used but poorly evaluated. 1 Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, EU 28 countries, Norway, Iceland, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand Situational prevention – The UK has led primary prevention and early identification efforts online and there is evidence of successful take-down, site blocking, extensive take up of online safety resources and considerable international collaboration through the work of CEOP, the National Crime Agency, and participation in the Global Alliance and WePROTECT. In other organisational contexts, efforts have been more limited covering pre-employment checks, vetting and barring. While important, these only exclude the minority of offenders already known or convicted. Inquiries in the USA, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Ireland on institutional child abuse in churches show we need a wider focus on organisational safety and the opportunities for unmonitored contact. Reducing vulnerabilities - Very little evidence could be found on the best approaches to reduce the vulnerabilities of children to sexual abuse and exploitation in the jurisdictions covered. Some promising evidence from the UK, Canada and the Netherlands was found from Stop It Now which aims to reduce offending among those not previously identified as offenders. Disclosure, identification, reporting and response Professionals need to be aware of the barriers children face in disclosing abuse and trained to recognise signs of abuse other than the child’s disclosure. Identification in children’s social services, education and health particularly needs to be recognised as a process of proactively asking, building a relationship with a vulnerable child or young person and collecting information from a range of sources over time. Research in Australia confirms that mandatory reporting can increase reports of child sexual abuse but that resources are needed to manage these. The number of cases investigated but not then substantiated also increased. From Australia and the USA, there is evidence that training, proactive identification and promoting expertise and good practice through specialist mobile teams or task forces in health, justice and child protection can have a positive impact. For health, use of new technologies such as telemedicine can give access to specialist skills. Also in Australia, proactive approaches to involve the wider community in identification and reporting had a positive impact on reporting rates, arrests, prosecution and convictions for child sexual abuse cases. Support for children through prosecution and the court process is generally poor but there is promising evidence on the effectiveness of co-located multi-disciplinary services such as the National Children’s Advocacy Centers in the USA and the Children’s Houses (or Barnahus) in Iceland and other parts of Europe. Managing offenders Management of offenders has focused largely on those high risk sexual offenders against children already convicted. In the UK, Germany and Sweden, attention is shifting to look at offenders at lower levels of assessed risk, including those not convicted. More work is needed on effective responses for health, education and social work; on managing peer abusers; on improving prosecution and the use of appropriate sanctions for offenders in organisations such as churches and faith groups. Commonly used policies such as sexual offender registration, notification schemes and residency restrictions evaluated in the USA found these have not been effective in reducing recidivism and may work against efforts to rehabilitate offenders. Sex offender treatment responses are more likely to be effective if they can address the type of offence and level of risk, the offender’s criminogenic needs, learning style and abilities. Restorative justice approaches to sex offender treatment such as Circles of Support and Accountability show promising results from Australia and the US, but have high levels of programme drop out. Treatment responses developed for adults are less relevant for young people who present with harmful sexual behaviour. There is more evidence to support the use of MST than CBT based treatment approaches for young people who present with harmful sexual behaviour. Supporting victims and survivors There are significant gaps in the availability of relevant support and therapeutic services for child victims of sexual abuse in the UK and funding for services addressing significant risks such as domestic abuse has declined. Research from Scotland on guardianship schemes shows positive results improving support for trafficked young people. Advocacy schemes do not prevent sexually exploited young people from going missing, but can ensure there is a coordinated response should this happen. The evidence on victim support and recovery focuses mostly on child sexual abuse, while needs of those who have been sexually exploited may differ. Best evidence on therapeutic treatment for children exists for trauma focused CBT although a variety of therapeutic methods, for example those using drama or EMDR, also show promise. Therapy approaches may be more effective when tailored to the individual needs of the child or young person, taking into account their specific symptom constellation, development, context, and background. Evidence from other jurisdictions on the effectiveness of victim redress, compensation schemes, no fault insurance, publicly available insurance registers and the structure and source of different funding streams could not be found. Implications ● A wider focus on prevention and response is needed, with prevention moving beyond teaching children to protect themselves and beyond the regulation of convicted sexual offenders to focus on wider prevention efforts targeting risks and vulnerabilities. ● Prevention and response needs to be comprehensive, cover the complexity and diversity of children’s experiences and be guided by leadership promoting an outcome focused theory of change. ● Responsibility for preventing and responding to child sexual abuse and exploitation needs to extend beyond specialist and child protection services to include the wider range of organisations, particularly faith groups, industry, the private sector, sport and leisure. The National Response Unit and proposed Centre for Excellence (in the UK) could play an important role in partnerships. ● Research from the USA and Canada provides evidence for prevention delivered in schools to increase children’s knowledge and awareness and starting to change the attitudes and environments that contribute to abuse. A strong argument could be made for compulsory PSHE for all schools and academies on safety and respectful relationships. ● Additional resources will be needed to deal with increased reports and additional screening procedures that will result if mandatory reporting is introduced. ● The gaps in knowledge identified in this review could be used to inform priorities for future funding. Approach The project was desk based using recognised methods for rapid evidence assessment. Rapid evidence assessments, like systematic reviews, aim to thoroughly and transparently identify and assess the evidence on a particular topic but within a more limited time frame and with restrictions on the breadth of literature included. Using agreed search terms, we searched online databases (Embase, ASSIA, PsychInfo, Social Work Abstracts and Criminal Justice Abstracts) and websites for relevant peer reviewed articles and research reports on effective responses delivered by different institutions from jurisdictions outside of, but similar to, those in England and Wales. Grey literature and references in publications included were additionally searched. We rated 1,460 relevant studies for quality and included 88 high quality studies in the review. To address gaps in the research, we were asked to identify examples of responses where the evidence was promising but did not yet meet quality standards. We were also asked to discuss the findings with reference to the current context of research, policy and practice in England and Wales. This meant reading a large body of additional materials which we included in the report bibliography. A full description of the methods are in the research report. Limitations The scope of the Rapid Evidence Assessment was narrow and might not have identified all the relevant evidence. The search was limited to articles published in English, between 2004- 2016, in peer reviewed journals and online in ‘grey literature’ research reports. We were unable to consult with international academic or practice experts to check whether all significant research evidence had been covered, but the draft report was reviewed by the IICSA advisory groups, including academic experts, who made suggestions on research to include (mostly from the UK)

Trajectories of Exposure to Neighborhood Deprivation and the Odds of Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence Among Women: Are There Sensitive Periods for Exposure?

Neighborhood disadvantage is commonly hypothesized to be positively associated with intimate partner violence (IPV) against women. However, longitudinal investigation of this association has been limited, with no studies on whether the timing of exposure matters. We used data from 2,115 women in the UK-based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Exposure to neighborhood-level deprivation was measured at 10-time points from baseline (gestation) until age 18. Family-level socioeconomic characteristics were measured at baseline. At age 21, participants self-reported whether they had experienced any IPV since age 18. We used a three-step bias-adjusted longitudinal latent class analysis to investigate how different patterns of neighborhood deprivation exposure were associated with the odds of experiencing IPV. A total of 32% of women experienced any IPV between ages 18 and 21. Women who consistently lived in deprived neighborhoods (chronic high deprivation) or spent their early childhoods in more deprived neighborhoods and later moved to less deprived neighborhoods (decreasing deprivation) had higher odds of experiencing IPV compared to those who consistently lived in non-deprived neighborhoods. The odds of experiencing IPV did not consistently differ between women who lived in non-deprived neighborhoods during early childhood and later moved to deprived neighborhoods (increasing deprivation) and those stably in non-deprived neighborhoods. Living in more deprived neighborhoods during early childhood, regardless of later exposure, was associated with higher odds of experiencing later IPV. This is congruent with prior research demonstrating the persistent effects of early neighborhood disadvantage on health and well-being. Replication, and underlying mechanisms, should be assessed across contexts

A qualitative study of the practices and experiences of staff in multidisciplinary child sexual exploitation partnerships in three English coastal towns

This article presents findings from a qualitative study of the practices and experiences of people working in multi-disciplinary child sexual exploitation (CSE) partnerships in three coastal towns in England. The study is based on focus groups conducted with 36 practitioners from a range of professional groups, including police, social work, substance misuse, education, specialist youth workers, sexual health, and statutory and non-statutory children's services. The article begins with an overview of the three towns and the structure of their responses to CSE. It goes on to explore a range of factors, which contribute to the local issues around CSE and which affect and direct multiagency working. These include practitioner perspectives on CSE vulnerabil-ity, the discrepancy between young peoples' and practi-tioners' views about “exploitation”, a discussion of how CSE perpetrators initiate and develop contact with young people and the role of incentives—including drugs and alcohol—as part of CSE exploitation. We finish by drawing out some general conclusions

UK prevalence of university student and staff experiences of sexual violence and domestic violence and abuse: a systematic review from 2002 to 2022

Research documenting the prevalence and impact of UK university students’ experiences of gender-based violence (GBV) has significantly developed over the past decade, yet there has been no systematic synthesis of this evidence. This systematic review aimed to synthesise findings relating to the prevalence and impacts of GBV among staff and students in UK universities, with a focus on sexual violence (SV) and domestic violence and abuse (DVA). The search strategies involved a variety of approaches to identify both published and unpublished research, including systematic searches of electronic databases and direct contact with experts. A total of twenty-five studies focusing on SV and eight studies focusing on DVA were identified. Despite inconsistent research design, sampling frameworks, definitions and measures, and limited studies on staff experiences, review findings suggest that SV is a major issue for university students, impacting on well-being, personal relationships and academic performance. In contrast, few DVA studies were identified, many shared a range of methodological limitations, drawing on majority female samples and focusing mainly on perpetration. Validated measurement tools, consistency in study designs and sampling frameworks, which include minority student and staff populations, would strengthen current understandings of SV and DVA within UK universities