1-148 - Developmental Pathways to Involvement in Teen Dating Violence: A Consideration of Gender Differences

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Teen dating violence (TDV) is prevalent among youth and can seriously harm adolescent health and development. Little is known about the developmental pathways through which adolescents become involved in TDV. This series of talks will present groundbreaking longitudinal research aimed at identifying the developmental predictors of TDV among adolescents. Gender differences in predictors will also be examined. The first study examines the prospective links between family violence exposure in pre-adolescence; pro-violent beliefs, aggression, deviant peer affiliation and opposite-sex aggression in early adolescence, and dating violence in late adolescence. A theoretically-developed dual pathway model involving a general violence pathway and an opposite-sex interpersonal violence pathway was tested. The general violence pathway was stronger in males, whereas the opposite-sex interpersonal violence pathway was more prominent in females. The second study examines prospective links from family conflict, sibling aggression, delinquency and bullying in middle school to sexual harassment and dating violence in high school. The proposed model was supported, with some of the pathways and type of dating violence perpetrated differing by gender. The final paper presents data from a high-risk sample of children of alcoholics, spanning the time period from infancy to late adolescence. Multiple indirect effects of fathers’ alcohol problems in infancy on TDV in late adolescence were found. Effects went through parental warmth, self-regulation, aggression (boys and girls) and sibling aggression (girls only). These studies highlight the family processes and developmental factors that contribute to TDV involvement and reveal that the pathways to involvement differ by gender.

Sub Unit

• Social Relationships

Chair

• Jennifer Livingston, State University of New York, Buffalo

Discussant

• Jeff R. Temple, The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston

Individual Presentations

• Longitudinal Pathways Linking Exposure to Family Violence with Adolescent Dating Violence - Presenting Author: Sylvie Mrug, University of Alabama, Birmingham; Anjana Madan, Dept. of Psychology; Michael Windle, Emory University

• Bullying, Sexual, and Dating Violence Trajectories From Early to Late Adolescence - Presenting Author: Dorothy Lynn Espelage, Univ of Illinois; Sabina M Low, Arizona State University; Carolyn Anderson, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Lisa De La Rue, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

• Predictors of Teen Dating Violence Involvement among Adolescent Children of Alcoholics - Presenting Author: Jennifer Livingston, State University of New York, Buffalo; Jared Lessard, State University of New York, Buffalo; Rina Das Eiden, SUNY - Buffalo; James Henrie, University at Buffalo; Kenneth E. Leonard, University at Buffalo, Research Institute on Addictions