NCJ Number
213278
Journal
Violence and Victims Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: February 2006 Pages: 81-89
Date Published
February 2006
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the characteristics of abusive heterosexual dating relationships among adolescents.
Abstract
Results revealed that for both genders, being involved in a sexual or “special romantic” relationship was associated with greater risk for abuse. Increased length of time in the relationship was associated with greater risk of verbal abuse for both genders while involvement in a pregnancy was associated with an increased risk for both verbal and physical abuse among adolescent males. The findings suggest that relationship characteristics play an important role in abusive adolescent dating relationships and, as such, they should be taken into account when designing clinical and community interventions for partner violence. Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) on 4,441 heterosexual dating relationships involving 3,076 subjects. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine the associations between verbal and physical abuse within the relationship and several relationships characteristics, including length of time in relationship, sexual intercourse or pregnancy, romantic relationship, age at relationship initiation, and age differences between partners. Future studies should utilize longitudinal methodologies to examine the association between abuse and relationship characteristics over time, particularly sexual intercourse, pregnancy, and emotional commitment characteristics. Tables, references