A Gendered Ecological Approach to Dating Violence in Schools

• In Event: Research on Gender and Crime in School or Prison Settings

Abstract

Few studies have systematically investigated whether social contexts generate certain gendered ideologies to maximize dating violence among adolescents. This study reveals that while school climates conducive to the subordination of young women increase the risk of dating violence for all adolescents, this risk is especially heightened in schools where disadvantage is widespread. As such it puts forth a gendered ecological approach to dating violence. This study extends prior research by directly measuring the context of school disadvantage and the extent to which gendered ideologies, specifically standards of sexual conduct among boys and girls, subordinate young women make dating violence more likely. I use data collected from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health to relate school disadvantage and adolescents’ self-reported standards of sex to measures of dating violence victimization. Results suggest that both school disadvantage and standards of sexual conduct were positively associated with increased dating violence victimization among adolescents. The results from the study also reveal an interaction between school disadvantage and standards of sexual conduct to be highly significant. This suggests that the effects of school disadvantage on dating violence changes depending upon the existence of these standards of sexual conduct.

Author

• Elizabeth Sabbath, University of New Mexico