NCJ Number
222124
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Dated: March 2008 Pages: 266-283
Date Published
March 2008
Length
18 pages
Annotation
This study investigated how school factors related to perpetration of dating violence among adolescents.
Abstract
All four of the school factors included in the analysis was significantly related to perpetration of dating violence for at least one group of adolescents or another. Early involvement with antisocial peers, and increase in this involvement over time, where risk factors for males, females, African-American females, and Hispanic males; lack of school safety was a risk factor for African-American males; academic difficulties were a risk factor for Hispanic males; and school involvement was a risk factor for Hispanic females. Educators should aim to increase adolescents' academic performance, decrease involvement with antisocial peers, and increase school safety by decreasing exposure to school violence. Given the significant impact of parental domestic violence on perpetration of adolescent dating violence, ways to reduce the intergenerational transmission of violence through increasing academic performance in school safety is essential. It appears that the school can serve as a buffer between domestic violence among parents and dating violence among teens. The first step in prevention is educating males and females on the types of dating violence perpetration that exists. Including parents in prevention programs will allow important family precursors to be discussed, such as hostility and parental domestic violence. Educators should focus on each of the four school factors in order to meet the specific needs of African-American males and females, as well as Hispanic males and females since school environment matters for these adolescents. Data were collected from the survey component of “Welfare, Children, and Families: a Three City Study,” which is a household-based, stratified random-sample of over 2,000 low income children and their caregivers in low income neighborhoods in Boston, Chicago, and San Antonio. Tables, figures, references