Summary Report: Dating Violence Among Latino Adolescents - II (DAVILA - II) Study

• NCJ Number: 248625
• Author(s): Carlos A. Cuevas Ph.D.; Chiara Sabina Ph.D.; Marc Swatt Ph.D.; Rebecca Cudmore M.A.
• Date Published: December 2014
• Length: 18 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2011-WG-BX-0021
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Report (Grant Sponsored); Issue Overview

Annotation

This study examined dating violence among Latino adolescents, evaluated longitudinal patterns, and investigated predictors of victimization patterns, formal and informal help-seeking, and subsequent psychosocial impact.

Abstract

The Dating Violence Among Latino Adolescents (DAVILA) - II study collected a second wave of data from the participants in the original DAVILA study (NCJ 242775), resulting in a longitudinal sample of 574 Latino youth. The main goals of the study were to: 1) examine dating violence among Latino adolescents over time, 2) evaluate the longitudinal patterns of co-occurring victimization (polyvictimization) for Latino victims of dating violence, 3) examine the predictors of victimization patterns to understand the influences on dating violence over time, 4) examine formal and informal help-seeking among Latino adolescents who experienced dating violence, and 5) determine the subsequent psychosocial impact of dating violence. Data was collected via phone interviews from the national sample of 1,427 Latino adolescents and their caregiver from the original DAVILA study. Participants were asked about dating violence and other forms of victimization, formal and informal help-seeking, psychological distress, delinquency, acculturation, familism, social support, and demographic information. Results show that dating violence rates remained consistent across both waves. However, gender differences apparent in wave 1 were not present in wave 2, suggesting that gender differences in dating violence may be fluid along the developmental spectrum for Latino youth. As with other forms of victimization, dating violence at wave 1 was a risk factor for wave 2 dating violence. The results also show that social support, hostility, school connectedness, and the number of children in the household were predictive of dating violence; hostility being associated with decreased risk. Interestingly, cultural factors that have been seen to have an effect in other samples and with adults (i.e., acculturation, enculturation, immigrant status) did not influence revictimization risk. Exploratory analysis with help-seeking suggested that formal help may also be preventive of dating violence. Overall, the results point to a number of potential family- and school-based interventions and preventive efforts.