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A Novel Trauma-Informed Screening Approach for Teen Dating Violence Perpetration in Racially Diverse Adolescents: A Multi-Site Study

NCJ Number
304045
Author(s)
Joseph R. Cohen, Ph.D.
Date Published
December 2021
Length
18 pages
Annotation

This is the Final Report Summary of the findings and design of a study with the goal of identifying dynamic risks and strengths linked with the perpetration of teen dating violence (TDV).

Abstract

The focus was on identifying TDV risks and strengths grounded in a developmental trauma framework and valid across adolescents’ diverse identities and in school and juvenile justice settings. The study sites were three large urban schools in the southeast United States (N-507). in maximizing the study’s ability to develop trauma-focused algorithms for adolescent violent behavior, the study also recruited adolescents involved with the juvenile justice system (JJS) in a small Illinois city.  The JJS sample, which composed 1.2 percent of the total sample, was younger than the school sample. The school sample was mostly Hispanic, and most of the JJS sample identified as White. Participants assented to taking a 45-minute survey on demographics, life events, mental health, and interpersonal relationships. Following the baseline procedure, similar surveys were administered at 8-month and 1 year, with COVID-19 items being added to assess exposure and related stressors. Preliminary data analyses have focused on the psychometric properties of dynamic predictors of TDV, i.e., reward processing and psychological well-being, which had not previously been examined within racially/ethnically diverse adolescent samples. The collective findings suggest that a two-factor reward responsiveness solution and a one-factor psychological well-being conceptualization best fit the data and were invariable over time and across relevant dynamic predictors. Further psychometric papers are planned to address the factor structure of other novel, self-reported, dynamic risk factors for TDV. 28 annotated references and a list of project products