Developing a New Measure of Adolescent Dating Aggression

• In Event: DWC NIJ VAWA Panel: National Institute of Justice’s Teen Dating Violence Research Portfolio

Abstract

Adolescent dating abuse (ADA), also known as ‘teen dating violence,’ is a prevalent and consequential social problem that merits scientific investigation. Unfortunately, serious problems exist with current ADA measures. Critics argue that they are “not particularly conceptually based, comprehensive, or sophisticated (Follingstad 2014).” It is widely acknowledge that new ADA measures must be developed using more rigorous methods to produce new, reliable, valid, vetted ADA measurement tools for both research and practice. Ideally, these measures will reflect contemporary forms of abuse and relationship styles; reflect forms and contexts of abuse experienced by underrepresented subgroups of youth; and be appropriately tailored for use with youth of varying developmental stages of adolescence. This presentation will report on progress of a mixed methods study designed to address these critical gaps by generating new developmentally staged measures of victimization and perpetration, testing them with a national sample of youth, and creating short-forms that can be used for rapid screening by practitioners.

Authors

• Emily Rothman, Boston University

• Bruce Taylor, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Elizabeth Mumford, NORC at the University of Chicago

• Carlos Cuevas, Northeastern University

• Megan Bair-Merritt, Boston University School of Medicine