How Much Does School Matter? An Examination of Adolescent Dating Violence Perpetration

The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to identify how school factors were related to perpetration of dating violence among adolescents; and (2) to assess how these factors may reduce or exacerbate the relationship between parental domestic violence and adolescents’ perpetration of dating violence, while accounting for individual and family characteristics from early adolescence. Three waves of data from the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study were used (N = 765; Ages 16–20 at Wave 3). Lagged Ordinary Least Squares multiple regression techniques were utilized to examine the link between perpetration of dating violence and school factors. Results are presented separately by adolescents’ sex and ethnicity-by-sex. Early involvement with antisocial peers and an increase in involvement with antisocial peers over time were linked to perpetration of dating violence for males, females, African-American females, and Hispanic males. Lack of school safety and academic difficulties during early adolescence exacerbated the impact of parental domestic violence exposure for African-American males and Hispanic males, respectively. Early school involvement, surprisingly, exacerbated this impact for Hispanic females. Implications for the prevention of perpetration of dating violence are explored.

Predictors and Pathways to Civic Involvement in Emerging Adulthood: Neighborhood, Family, and School Influences

Understanding the developmental precursors to civic involvement in emerging adulthood is important to help cultivate and sustain youth's civic involvement. Guided by Bronfenbrenner's ecological theory of human development and social capital theory, this study examined the pathways that link childhood neighborhood attributes, changes in family and school social capital during adolescence, and civic involvement in emerging adulthood. Three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n?=?7,209, 54?% female, 63?% white, 18?% African-American, 11?% Hispanic) and multi-level models were used to examine the research questions set forth in this study. Findings revealed that increases in family and school social capital during adolescence had direct influences on emerging adult's civic involvement 7?years later. The effect of childhood neighborhood attributes was only weakly mediated by family and school social capital. However, the expression of family and school influences on emerging adult's civic involvement was found to differ by neighborhood groups, gender, and race. These results help to illustrate the importance of examining multi-contextual as well as demographic influences on civic involvement in emerging adulthood. In addition, the results from this study can inform efforts to strengthen the theory of adolescent civic involvement and policies on how to educate youth and communities on civic involvement and its benefits.     

Dating Violence Victimization,Relationship Satisfaction,Mental Health Problems,and Acceptability of Violence: A Comparison of Men and Women

Two of the most common reported consequences of dating violence are its impact on the victim’s satisfaction with their romantic relationship and its impact on the victim’s mental health. Recent research suggests that the strength of these relationships may be moderated by the degree to which the dating violence is acceptable to the victim. However, studies of these relationships have been limited to samples of women. The purpose of the present research was to examine the relationships among dating violence victimization, relationship satisfaction, mental health problems, and acceptability of violence for a sample that includes not only female victims, but also male victims. Using a sample of 155 male and 417 female college students, hierarchical regression analyses found that dating violence victimization is associated with relationship satisfaction and mental health problems for both men and women. For men, acceptability of violence moderated the relationship between dating violence victimization and the mental health problems of depression, anxiety, and somatization. For women, acceptability of violence moderated the relationship between dating violence victimization and relationship satisfaction only.

Adolescent Stressors,Coping Strategies,and Psychological Health Studied in the Family Context

The present study examined adolescents' stressors, coping, and psychological health in the family context in 42 adolescents, ranging in age from 11 to 18. Perceptions of intergenerational stressors and coping strategies were examined for congruence by comparing adolescents' self-reports to parents' reports on their adolescents. Adolescents' reports on their parents were also compared to parents' reports on themselves. This study also specified family environment dynamics in relation to the study variables. Hypotheses that more congruent adolescent and parent perceptions about each other's stressors and coping were related to more cohesive family environments and more adaptive copings were generally supported. Family environment variables and congruent coping were related to psychological health symptoms as well. The findings contribute to current knowledge about the study variables examined in the context of the family.     

Understanding Adolescent and Family Influences on Intimate Partner Psychological Violence During Emerging Adulthood and Adulthood

The intergenerational transmission of violence directed toward intimate partners has been documented for the past three decades. Overall, the literature shows that violence in the family of origin leads to violence in the family of destination. However, this predominately cross–sectional or retrospective literature is limited by self–selection, endogeneity, and reporter biases as it has not been able to assess how individual and family behaviors simultaneously experienced during adolescence influence intimate partner violence throughout adulthood. The present study used data from the Iowa Youth and Families Project (IYFP; N = 392; 52 % Female), a multi–method, multi–trait prospective approach, to overcome this limitation. We focused on psychological intimate partner violence in both emerging adulthood (19–23 years) and adulthood (27–31 years), and include self and partner ratings of violence as well as observational data in a sample of rural non-Hispanic white families. Controlling for a host of individual risk factors as well as interparental psychological violence from adolescence (14–15 years), the results show that exposure to parent–to–child psychological violence during adolescence is a key predictor of intimate partner violence throughout adulthood. In addition, negative emotionality and the number of sexual partners in adolescence predicted intimate partner violence in both emerging adulthood and adulthood. Exposure to family stress was associated positively with intimate partner violence in adulthood but not in emerging adulthood, whereas academic difficulties were found to increase violence in emerging adulthood only. Unlike previous research, results did not support a direct effect of interparental psychological violence on psychological violence in the next generation. Gender differences were found only in emerging adulthood. Implications of these findings are discussed in light of the current literature and future directions.     

Does Acceptability of Violence Impact the Relationship Between Satisfaction,Victimization, and Commitment Levels in Emerging Adult Dating Relationships?

This study examined the impact of acceptability of violence on dating violence victimization, relationship satisfaction, and relationship commitment. A survey administered to a sample of 155 male and 417 female college students showed that relationship satisfaction was significantly associated with relationship commitment, but that dating violence victimization was not. Moreover, acceptability of violence emerged as a significant moderator of the relationship between satisfaction and commitment in dating relationships when gender differences were assessed. Discussion of these findings and future research are included.

Protective and Risk Factors Associated with Adolescent Boys’ Early Sexual Debut and Risky Sexual Behaviors

Protective and risk factors associated with rates of early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors for a sample of low-income adolescent boys were examined using bioecological theory framed by a resiliency perspective. Protective processes examined include a close mother–son and father–son relationship, parental monitoring and family routines, as well as the adolescent boy’s academic achievement, expectations, and school recognition. The risk factors assessed were delinquent behaviors, if the adolescent was born to a teenage mother, family structure, monthly family income, risky neighborhood environments, family of origin welfare receipt, and maternal education. Waves one (1999) and two (2001) of Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study were used (N = 528; Wave 1 ages 10–14 years). Associations between early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors with individual, family, school, and neighborhood protective and risk factors were addressed through a series of d-probit and Ordinary Least Squares multiple regression techniques. When protective and risk factors were addressed independently, academic achievement and parental monitoring protected adolescent boys from early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors while drug and alcohol use and school problems placed them at risk for these behaviors. However, when the model is assessed together, early parental monitoring and academic achievement were shown to protect boys’ early sexual debut and risky sexual behaviors by reducing their delinquent behaviors, specifically early drug and alcohol use and school problems.

The Impact of Collective Efficacy on Risks for Adolescents’ Perpetration of Dating Violence

Given prevalence rates and negative consequences that adolescents’ perpetration of dating violence may have on an individual’s well-being and future relationships, it is imperative to explore factors that may increase or reduce its occurrence. Thus, we aimed to identify how multiple contextual risk factors (individual, family, schools, and neighborhoods) were related to adolescents’ perpetration of dating violence over a 6 year period. Then, we assessed how neighborhood collective efficacy, an important predictor of urban youths’ well-being, buffered the relationship between each of the risk factors and adolescents’ perpetration of dating violence. Three waves of data from the Welfare, Children, and Families: A Three-City Study were used (N = 765; Ages 16–20 at Wave 3). The sample is 53 % female, 42 % African-American, and 53 % Hispanic. For the total sample, drug and alcohol use, low parental monitoring, academic difficulties, and involvement with antisocial peers were significant early risk factors for perpetration of dating violence in late adolescence. Risk factors also varied by adolescents’ race and sex. Finally, perceived neighborhood collective efficacy buffered the relationship between early academic difficulties and later perpetration of dating violence for Hispanic males. These results imply that multiple systems should be addressed in dating violence prevention programs.     

Can APB 2000 Be Used to Discern Sincerity of Effort in Unimpaired Subjects from Maximal Performance in Subjects with Shoulder Pain?

The automated pegboard (APB 2000), which has been found to objectively quantify motor performance, was used to differentiate maximal motor performance among subjects with shoulder pain, healthy unimpaired subjects performing normally and also while feigning shoulder pain. Six participants with shoulder pain and 15 healthy unimpaired individuals participated. Individuals with shoulder pain were tested on the APB 2000 using their affected upper extremity. Unimpaired participants were instructed to perform normally on the test with randomly selected upper extremity and to feign shoulder pain with the other upper extremity. The two tests for the unimpaired participants were conducted 1 week apart. There were significant differences in mean performance time for normal, patient, and feigned performance, with 80, 111, and 149 sec for the three groups respectively (p < 0.0005). There was also considerable overlap in the three distributions of performance times. These preliminary findings suggest that the APB 2000 is able to distinguish performance time between these three groups. Whether it can be used to distinguish between maximal performance and submaximal performance in individuals suspected of submaximal performance requires further study.