Citation

Levesque DA, Johnson JL, Welch CA, Prochaska JM, Paiva AL. Psychol. Violence 2016; 6(3): 421-432.

Affiliation

University of Rhode Island.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/vio0000049

PMID

27482470

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Teen dating violence is a serious public health problem. A cluster-randomized trial was conducted to assess the efficacy of Teen Choices, a 3-session online program that delivers assessments and individualized guidance matched to dating history, dating violence experiences, and stage of readiness for using healthy relationship skills. For high risk victims of dating violence, the program addresses readiness to keep oneself safe in relationships.

METHOD: Twenty high schools were randomly assigned to the Teen Choices condition (n=2,000) or a Comparison condition (n=1,901). Emotional and physical dating violence victimization and perpetration were assessed at 6 and 12 months in the subset of participants (total n=2,605) who reported a past-year history of dating violence at baseline, and/or who dated during the study.

RESULTS: The Teen Choices program was associated with significantly reduced odds of all four types of dating violence (adjusted ORs ranging from.45 to.63 at 12 months follow-up). For three of the four violence outcomes, participants with a past-year history of that type of violence benefited significantly more from the intervention than students without a past-year history.

CONCLUSIONS: The Teen Choices program provides an effective and practicable strategy for intervention for teen dating violence prevention.

Language: en