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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to identify patterns of teen dating victimization among boys and girls and examine their association with family and peer contextual risk factors and mental health indicators.
METHOD: As part of the population-based Youths' Romantic Relationships Project, 8,230 high school students, with a corresponding weighted sample of 6,531 teens, were questioned about their victimization experiences. In total, 2,022 girls and 1,245 boys reported having a romantic relationship in the past year. Latent class analysis was used to identify classes for both girls and boys.
RESULTS: Latent class analysis identified a best fitting model of three classes for girls: low victimization (61% of girls), sexual assault and psychological violence (27%), and multiple victimization (12%). For boys, three classes were identified reflecting low victimization (84% of boys), multiple victimization (9%), and unwanted sexual contacts and psychological violence (7%). Associations between class membership and family and peer contextual risk factors and mental health indicators revealed more distinctive features among classes for girls than for boys.
CONCLUSIONS: The findings highlight the utility of a person-oriented approach to enhance our understanding of the diversity of victimization experiences in the context of teen romantic relationships.
RESULTS also underscore the importance of tailoring prevention efforts to efficiently tackle teen dating violence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)
Keywords: Intimate partner violence
Language: en |