Profiles of Protective Factors for Teen Dating Violence: A Latent Class Approach

• In Event: Identities in Context: Understanding How Context Influences Adolescents' and Emerging Adults' Functioning

Abstract

Objectives: About 20% of adults report dating violence victimization prior to age 18, with women, sexual and gender minority individuals, and racial and ethnic minority individuals reporting the highest rates (Kann et al., 2017). These data are cause for concern for the mental and physical health of many adolescents. However, the current empirical literature on dating violence prevention is predominantly focused on risk factors among victims (Dardis et al., 2015). The current study aims to identify profiles of protective factors associated with non-violent romantic relationship engagement among high school students.

Theoretical Perspective: Sources of Strength is a school-based wellness promotion program that has identified though theory, research, and practice eight common protective factors (Wyman et al., 2010). Programming focuses on connecting students to protective factors to prevent interrelated deleterious outcomes including suicide and interpersonal violence (Bennett & Banyard, 2016).

Methods: Data are drawn from the control condition of an ongoing evaluation of Sources of Strength among high school students (N =2,235 from 9 schools) in the U.S. Dating violence was measured using three questions from the YRBS survey (Kann et al., 2017) that addressed verbal, physical, and sexual TDV. Using latent class analysis, we explored common clusters of protective factors found among students, and associations with TDV perpetration 4 months later.

Results: A 5-class solution fit the data best. Class 1, about 51% of the sample, is characterized by a high likelihood (between 0.9 and 1) that students endorse all factors. Class 2 (about 30% of the sample) follows a similar trend with somewhat lower probabilities. Classes 3 (8.5%) and 4 (6.3%) are similar: both are somewhat likely (probabilities 0.5 to 0.7) to report having positive friendships and exhibiting generosity, and substantially less likely to endorse the remaining non-healthcare factors (probabilities between 0.3 and 0.5). However, Class 4 is much more likely to report access to mental health and medical services while Class 3 is unlikely to report access to either. Class 5 (3% of the sample) is highly unlikely to endorse any of the indicators. Classes with fewer protective factors were significantly more likely to report perpetrating TDV. Class associations with gender, sexuality, and race as well as implications for practice and future research will be discussed.

Significance: A protective approach to school-based prevention of violence in relationships is taking active steps to foster healthy intimate relationships among students. The current findings begin to provide insight for interventionists regarding potentially important targets areas to address. While a causal relationship cannot be inferred from the current data, these data serve as a first step in understanding the landscape regarding protective factor profiles as they relate to dating violence perpetration.

Authors

• Katherine Ingram, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Chelsey Bowman, Boston University

• Dorothy L. Espelage, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

• Alberto Valido Delgado, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• Tomei Kuehl, Colorado Departmetn of Public Health and Environment

• Sasha Mintz, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

• Kirsten Hoagland, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment

• Scott LoMurray, Sources of Strength

• Peter Wyman, University of Rochester Medical Center

• Karen Schmeelk-Cone, University of Rochester Medical Center