Contextual Risk Profiles and Trajectories of Adolescent Dating Violence Perpetration

Social ecological and developmental system perspectives suggest that interactions among factors within and across multiple contexts (e.g., neighborhood, peer, family) must be considered in explaining dating violence perpetration. Yet, to date, most extant research on dating violence has focused on individual, rather than contextual predictors, and used variable-centered approaches that fail to capture the configurations of factors that may jointly explain involvement in dating violence. The current study used a person-centered approach, latent profile analysis, to identify key configurations (or profiles) of contextual risk and protective factors for dating violence perpetration across the neighborhood, school, friend and family contexts. We then examine the longitudinal associations between these contextual risk profiles, assessed during middle school, and trajectories of psychological and physical dating violence perpetration across grades 8 through 12. Five contextual risk profiles were identified: school, neighborhood, and family risk; school and family risk; school and friend risk; school and neighborhood risk; and low risk. The highest levels of psychological and physical perpetration across grades 8 through 12 were among adolescents in the profile characterized by high levels of school, neighborhood, and family risk. Results suggest that early interventions to reduce violence exposure and increase social regulation across multiple social contexts may be effective in reducing dating violence perpetration across adolescence.     

Self-concept and Dating Violence in 220 Adolescent Girls in the Child Protective System

The aim of this study was to describe the dating violence experiences in a cohort of adolescent girls in the Child Protective System (CPS), and to assess how these experiences relate to their self-concept. A total of 220 adolescent Canadian girls under care of the CPS completed the Offer self-image questionnaire and the revised conflict tactic scales. Results showed that the majority of these girls have experienced some types of victimization in their dating relationships, the least prevalent form being severe injury (24.4%) and the most being minor psychological aggression (81.5%). Data provided here show that the self-concept of teenagers involved in severe violence that includes injury is especially negative. Girls who sustained severe violence with injuries reported more negative overall views of themselves, more problems regulating their emotional tone, more psychopathological symptoms, and lower vocational and educational goals. Implications for prevention initiatives and treatment interventions are discussed.     

Risk and Protective Factors Distinguishing Profiles of Adolescent Peer and Dating Violence Perpetration

PurposeViolence profiles were created on the basis of whether adolescents used violence against both peers and dates, against dates but not peers, against peers but not dates, or against neither peers nor dates. We determined (1) whether risk and protective factors from five domains (individual attributes and behaviors, the peer, family, school, and neighborhood contexts), based primarily on social learning and social control theories, were associated with violence profiles, (2) whether factors distinguishing profiles varied by gender, and (3) which of the domains was most important in distinguishing profiles.MethodsData are from adolescents in grades 8 through 10 from schools in three nonmetropolitan Counties (n = 2,907).ResultsAdolescents who used violence against both peers and dates used more of each type of violence compared with those who used only one type of violence. They also had more maladaptive risk and protective scores than adolescents perpetrating only peer violence or neither type of violence, although they had few differences from those perpetrating only dating violence. Most social learning theory risk factors and social control theory protective factors distinguished the profiles as did psychological attributes and substance use. Factors distinguishing profile membership were generally the same for boys and girls, although some associations were stronger for boys than for girls. The model fit statistics suggest that the individual attributes and behaviors and the peer context models fit the data the best.ConclusionsSuggestions for developing theoretically based interventions for preventing both peer and dating violence are presented.     

Immigration Status,Acculturation, and Dating Violence Risk for Hispanic Adolescent Girls in New Mexico

Maternal and Child Health Journal - Little data exist on dating violence experienced by immigrant Hispanic adolescents. The present study examined the relationships between immigration status,...     

Longitudinal Trajectories of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Binge Drinking Among Adolescent Girls: The Role of Sexual Victimization

Purpose

Many studies have documented associations among sexual victimization (SV), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and alcohol use; however, few have examined these associations longitudinally among adolescents. The present study evaluated the effect of SV on the longitudinal trajectory of PTSD symptoms and binge drinking (BD) among adolescent girls, a population known to have high rates of SV and alcohol use.

Methods

Participants (N = 1,808 at wave 1) completed interviews regarding PTSD symptoms, BD, and SV experiences over approximately 3 years.

Results

Multilevel modeling revealed decreases in PTSD symptoms over the course of the study; however, compared with nonvictims, adolescents who were sexually victimized reported greater PTSD symptoms at wave 1 and maintained higher levels of PTSD symptoms over the course of the study after controlling for age. SV reported during the study also predicted an acute increase in PTSD symptoms at that occasion. BD increased significantly over the course of the study; however, SV did not predict initial BD or increases over time. SV reported during the study was associated with acute increases in BD at that occasion, although this effect diminished when participants reporting substance-involved rape were excluded.

Conclusions

SV was associated with immediate and long-lasting elevations in PTSD symptoms, but not with initial or lasting elevations in BD over time, suggesting that adolescent victims have yet to develop problematic patterns of alcohol use to cope with SV. However, SV was associated with acute increases in PTSD symptoms and BD, suggesting a need for BD interventions to reduce alcohol-related SV.     

Longitudinal Associations Between Smoking and Depressive Symptoms Among Adolescent Girls

Adolescence is an important period for initiation of smoking and manifestation of depression, which are often comorbid. Researchers have examined associations between depressive symptoms and smoking to elucidate whether those with increased depressive symptoms smoke more to self-medicate, whether those who smoke experience increased subsequent depressive symptoms, or both. Collectively, there have been mixed findings; however, studies have been limited by (1) cross-sectional or short-term longitudinal data or (2) the use of methods that test associations, or only one direction in the associations, rather than a fully-reciprocal model to examine directionality. This study examined the associations between smoking and depressive symptoms in a sample of adolescent girls using latent dual change scores to model (1) the effect of smoking on change in depressive symptoms, and simultaneously (2) the effect of depressive symptoms on change in smoking across ages 11–20. Data were from a cohort-sequential prospective longitudinal study (N?=?262). Girls were enrolled by age cohort (11, 13, 15, and 17 years) and were primarily White (61 %) or African American (31 %). Data were restructured by age. Every 6 months, girls reported depressive symptoms and cigarette use. Results indicated that controlling for sociodemographic characteristics, higher levels of smoking predicted a greater increase in depressive symptoms across adolescence. These findings suggest that a higher level of cigarette smoking does contribute to more depressive symptoms, which has implications for prevention of depression and for intervention and future research.     

Concurrent and Longitudinal Predictors of Self-Esteem in Elementary and Middle School Girls

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to analyze the effects of factors related to self-esteem, both cross-sectionally and longitudinally, among 2 cohorts of girls over a period of 4 years, from elementary through middle school. METHODS: A multiethnic sample of 656 elementary school girls recruited from 13 schools in Hayward, CA, and Tucson, AZ, was evaluated annually over a 4-year period. The McKnight Risk Factor Survey IV was administered, which consists of 103 questions that assess self-esteem, appearance appraisal, effect of body changes, depressed mood, teasing, school performance, and other factors. In addition, participants' heights and weights were measured. RESULTS: The most important predictor of self-esteem in each grade was appearance appraisal, and, in all grades but the eighth, weight-related teasing by either boys or girls was also a predictor of self-esteem. Teasing about weight was more important than body weight itself in predicting self-esteem. Self-esteem was lower in girls who were teased about their weight, even if they believed that it had no effect on how they felt about themselves. School performance predicted self-esteem in grades 6 and 8. In longitudinal analyses, the participant's current perception of her appearance was more important than her previous level of self-esteem in predicting current self-esteem. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study support the need to allocate funding to address the issue of teasing as 1 of the stressors in the school environment, and to explore further the important relationship between school performance and self-esteem.     

Neighborhood Predictors of Dating Violence Victimization and Perpetration in Young Adulthood: A Multilevel Study

Objectives. We examined whether social processes of neighborhoods, such as collective efficacy, during individual''s adolescent years affect the likelihood of being involved in physical dating violence during young adulthood.Methods. Using longitudinal data on 633 urban youths aged 13 to 19 years at baseline and data from their neighborhoods (collected by the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods), we ran multilevel linear regression models separately by gender to assess the association between collective efficacy and physical dating violence victimization and perpetration, controlling for individual covariates, neighborhood poverty, and perceived neighborhood violence.Results. Females were significantly more likely than were males to be perpetrators of dating violence during young adulthood (38% vs 19%). Multilevel analyses revealed some variation in dating violence at the neighborhood level, partly accounted for by collective efficacy. Collective efficacy was predictive of victimization for males but not females after control for confounders; it was marginally associated with perpetration (P = .07). The effects of collective efficacy varied by neighborhood poverty. Finally, a significant proportion (intraclass correlation = 14%–21%) of the neighborhood-level variation in male perpetration remained unexplained after modeling.Conclusions. Community-level strategies may be useful in preventing dating violence.Intimate partner violence (IPV), a serious public health problem worldwide, often begins as adolescent dating violence.¹ In the United States, more than 25 million women and 7 million men have experienced partner violence during their lifetimes.² Young adults have the highest risk for IPV.³ Despite an expansion of studies on IPV in the past 2 decades, prior literature has mainly focused on identifying individual- and relationship-level predictors of violence against women.^4–7 Limited studies have considered the social context of youth within which dating violence is embedded.^8,9 Given that patterns of IPV typically emerge during adolescence and levels increase over time,^1,2 it is important to examine whether neighborhood resources can be leveraged to prevent dating violence during young adulthood.     

Substance Use and Disparities in Teen Dating Violence Victimization by Sexual Identity Among High School Students

Prevention Science - Sexual minority youth (SMY) report more substance use and experience more physical and sexual dating violence victimization than heterosexual youth; however, few studies have...     

Dating Matters and the Future of Teen Dating Violence Prevention

Prevention Science - Despite increased focus and research on violence prevention, rates of teen dating violence (TDV) victimization have remained stable for the last two decades. In response to...     

School Climate and Adolescent Drug Use: Mediating Effects of Violence Victimization in the Urban High School Context

This study tested the mediating effects of violence victimization in the relationship between school climate and adolescent drug use. The hypothesized path model fit data collected from a probability sample of urban high school students (N=586) participating in an evaluation of a violence prevention program funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Findings indicated that the lack of enforcement of school rules and the presence of unsafe places in and around the school influenced adolescent drug use directly and indirectly through their effects on violence victimization. Editors’ Strategic Implications: This research confirms the importance of the environment as a contributor to violence victimization. Violence victimization is obviously of concern in its own right, but in addition, these data indicate that it also contributes to adolescent drug use. School administrators should be aware that unsafe places in schools and the failure to enforce school rules may affect such victimization and drug use. Portions of this paper were presented at the Eighth Annual Conference of the Society for Social Work and Research, New Orleans, LA, January 17, 2004 and the Society for Community Research and Action – 10th Biennial Conference, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, June 9–12, 2005.     

幼女及青春期少女卵巢肿瘤临床分析

目的探讨幼女及青春期少女卵巢肿瘤的临床特点及治疗方法。方法回顾性分析1999年2月～2009年4月收治的全部4～19岁卵巢肿瘤患者64例。结果患者平均年龄16.4岁,其中4～9岁3例(4.7%),10～14岁13例(20.3%),15～19岁48例(75%)。性索间质细胞瘤3例,上皮性肿瘤22例,生殖细胞肿瘤39例;交界性肿瘤2例,恶性肿瘤6例。所有患者均行手术治疗,4例生殖细胞恶性肿瘤患者行保留生育功能手术,2例上皮癌患者实施肿瘤细胞减灭术。4例接受了4～6疗程以顺铂为主的化疗。随访期间,6例恶性肿瘤患者中有3例死亡;余病例无复发。结论幼女及青春期少女卵巢肿瘤以生殖细胞肿瘤为主,随着年龄增长,上皮性肿瘤所占比例增高。生殖细胞恶性肿瘤可以采取保留生育功能的手术。     

幼女及青春期少女卵巢肿瘤临床分析

目的探讨幼女及青春期少女卵巢肿瘤的临床特点及治疗方法。方法回顾性分析1999年2月～2009年4月收治的全部4～19岁卵巢肿瘤患者64例。结果患者平均年龄16.4岁,其中4～9岁3例(4.7%),10～14岁13例(20.3%),15～19岁48例(75%)。性索间质细胞瘤3例,上皮性肿瘤22例,生殖细胞肿瘤39例;交界性肿瘤2例,恶性肿瘤6例。所有患者均行手术治疗,4例生殖细胞恶性肿瘤患者行保留生育功能手术,2例上皮癌患者实施肿瘤细胞减灭术。4例接受了4～6疗程以顺铂为主的化疗。随访期间,6例恶性肿瘤患者中有3例死亡;余病例无复发。结论幼女及青春期少女卵巢肿瘤以生殖细胞肿瘤为主,随着年龄增长,上皮性肿瘤所占比例增高。生殖细胞恶性肿瘤可以采取保留生育功能的手术。     

The Efficacy of an Intimate Partner Violence Prevention Program with High-Risk Adolescent Girls: A Preliminary Test

This study examined the efficacy of a brief (four session) intimate partner violence (IPV) prevention program (Building a Lasting Love, Langhinrichsen-Rohling et al. 2005) that was designed to reduce the relationship violence of predominantly African American inner-city adolescent girls (n?=?72) who were receiving teen pregnancy services. These high-risk girls were randomly assigned to the prevention program (n?=?39) or waitlist control (n?=?33) conditions. Implementation fidelity was documented. As predicted, girls who successfully completed the program (n?=?24) reported significant reductions in their perpetration of psychological abuse toward their baby??s father as compared to the control (n?=?23) participants. They also reported experiencing significantly less severe IPV victimization over the course of the program. Preliminary analyses indicated that avoidant attachment to one??s partner may be associated with less program-related change. These findings support the contention that brief IPV prevention programs can be targeted to selected groups of high-risk adolescents.