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‘Dating’ and ‘going out’ are activities in which many Canadian youth engage starting as early as age 11, 12 and 13 (Price et al., 2000) Violence in dating relationships is not uncommon. Teen dating violence parallels adult intimate partner violence in that it exists on a continuum extending from verbal and emotional abuse to sexual assault and murder.
This definition reflects the belief that all forms of abuse are harmful and need to be taken seriously. A wide range of abusive acts occur in dating relationships that go beyond what people traditionally think of as "serious" abuse, that is, physical or sexual violence. In a Canadian study conducted by Lavoie, Robitaille and Hebert (2000) these included death threats, psychological abuse, denigration and insults, jealousy, excessive control, indifference, threats of separation and reprisals, damaging reputations, and harassment after separation. Although both young men and women may act abusively, the abuse of young women by men is more pervasive and usually more severe. Physical abuse includes shoving, slapping, choking, punching, kicking, biting, burning, hair pulling, using a weapon, threatening someone with a weapon, or forcibly confining someone (Health Canada, 1995). These attacks cause both emotional and physical harm. Typically, young men use physical force to assert control while young women use it to protect themselves, to retaliate or because they fear that their partner is about to assault them. Some women live in terror of such attacks. In contrast, young men rarely fear assaults from young women, considering women’s use of force to be innocuous. Sexual assault includes unwanted sexual touching, forcing or pressuring a partner to consent to sexual activity, rape and attempted rape and attempting or having intercourse with a person who is under the influence of alcohol or drugs (Health Canada, 1995). Such abuse is more often directed at young women. While each of these acts is emotionally damaging, they vary in the extent to which they result in physical injury. Emotional abuse, like sexual and physical abuse, varies in its intensity and its consequences. It includes behaviour such as insulting or swearing at a partner, belittling them, threatening or terrorizing them, destroying their property or possessions, isolating them from friends and relatives and treating them with irrational possessiveness or extreme jealousy (Health Canada, 1995). Emotional abuse originates in the aggressor's desire to control the other person’s behaviour. Emotional abuse originates in the aggressor’s desire to control the other’s behaviour. Undermining their partner’s self-confidence, limits their ability to act independently. Both young men and young women may use emotional abuse. Society, however, too often downplays the effects of emotional abuse because there is no visible harm. As a result, communities offer little support to deal with emotional abuse by either men or women. More young women are aware of teen dating violence among their peers and have experienced such abuse than young men. In a study of students in grades 9 to 13, Jaffe and colleagues (1992) reported that 54% of students were aware of dating violence among their peers, with significantly more girls (61%) reporting this than boys (48%). Price and colleagues (2000) studied dating violence among approximately 1700 English- and French-speaking New Brunswick youth (11 to 20 years old). They reported significant differences between the percentages of adolescent girls and boys experiencing psychological and/or physical abuse, 22% and 12% respectively, and sexual abuse, 19% and 4% respectively. Overall, 29% of adolescent girls and 13% of boys in the sample reported some abuse in their dating relationships. A study of post-secondary students, DeKeseredy and Kelly (1993, cited in DeKeseredy, 1997) reported findings from 3,142 Canadian university/college students. This national study noted that between 16% and 35% of young women reported having experienced at least one physical assault by a male dating partner, 28% experienced at least one incident of sexual abuse in the previous 12 months, and 45% had been victimized in a dating relationship since leaving high school. O’Keefe’s 1997 research identified some reasons why adolescent girls and boys use dating violence. Both young men and young women reported that males more frequently initiate dating violence. The primary reason reported by both men and women was ‘a way of showing anger’, although females were significantly more likely to declare this than males. ‘Self-defense’ was the second most frequently given reason for young women, whereas for young men it was ‘gaining control of their partner’. Other factors included an increased likelihood of violence when one or both had been drinking alcohol. Having witnessed violence within the family was a significant predictor of inflicting dating violence for males, but not females. Conflict in the relationship and the seriousness of the relationship were significant factors that young women associated with the initiation of dating violence. Lavoie, Robitaille and Hebert (2000) explored perceived causes of dating violence with 24 Canadian teens. The youth identified factors such as jealousy, and the need for power and/or use of alcohol or drugs by the young men. Characteristics of victimization were provocation by the young women and previous experience with violence. The youth often cited communication problems, with the victim seen as playing a role in provoking the violence. The teens identified a number of social factors including the influence of peers, especially friends who behaved violently and the impact of pornography on violent interactions in sex. What We Know About School-based Teen Dating Violence Prevention School-based dating violence programs began to appear in Canada and the United States in the mid-1980s. These programs were often spearheaded by education and social service organizations that were already serving victims of child abuse and intimate partner violence such as emergency shelter staff or advocates. For many Canadians, the 1989 Montreal massacre of 14 women, solely because they had been accepted into an engineering program, highlighted the underlying gender stereotypical attitudes that can lead to violence. Early adolescence has been characterized as a "window of opportunity" to expose young people to healthy relationship development and non-violent conflict resolution. A number of developmental issues in adolescence, such as learning autonomy and control and shifting emotional dependency from parents to peers, make this a particularly important time to provide educational opportunities with respect to non-violent relationships (Wolfe, Wekerle & Scott, 1997). Typically, dating violence prevention programs are directed to students in grades 7 to 12. Program Objectives: A variety of knowledge, attitude and skill-building objectives drive dating violence prevention programs. The ultimate goals are to reduce violence in youth dating relationships and to promote healthy, respectful relationships. Some programs advance these goals through increasing awareness of what dating violence is, why it happens and what to do if it occurs, including increasing knowledge of local resources and help-seeking. Conflict resolution, communication and critical thinking skills are at the heart of other dating violence programs to promote healthy relationships and provide alternative choices for resolving conflicts. Feminist, health promotion and ecological perspectives have all been incorporated into dating violence prevention. These suggest that social, behavioural, and environmental factors that promote and sustain the acceptance of violent and abusive behaviour must be taken into account to prevent violence in relationships. Changing attitudes has become an important target in adolescent prevention programming. Program Content: The content to accomplish these objectives is quite varied, providing information on: healthy relationships, control and power in relationships, gender inequality, gender stereotypes and roles, depictions of violence and gender in the media or advertising, the dynamics of aggression, bullying, communication skills, dealing with peer pressure, sexual harassment, dealing with disappointment and anger in non-violent ways and community resources for victims and perpetrators of dating violence. While there is no consensus about what constitutes a comprehensive dating violence prevention program, some of the programs revised in this resource manual, that have successfully reduced the use of violence in dating relationships, contain many of the elements listed above. Presentation Methods: Interacting with youth is key to both capturing their attention and providing opportunities for skill development. Role-plays, videos and written scenarios are often used. Since the mid-1990s, peer leadership approaches have emerged in dating violence prevention programs, based on the assumption that adolescents would be more receptive to education from their peers and the material would be more relevant to their experience. Peer education models train some high school youth to present violence material to peers and younger students often using a theatrical performance. One model of peer leadership, "Making Waves" developed in New Brunswick, Canada, has selected youth and a high school teacher form teams and participate in a leadership-training weekend. The follow-up is a commitment to implement a dating violence prevention action plan in their schools. An issue that has only recently emerged as a result of the outcome research for dating violence prevention programs is considering the differing needs and successes of young women as compared to young men. Dating violence prevention has almost exclusively been presented to mixed gender audiences. However, across several studies researchers have suggested that young women both know more before programs begin than do young men and show greater increases in knowledge acquisition and attitude change after the program. In some instances, the initial scores of the young women are already high and leave very little room for improvement at post-test (called a ceiling effect). Some researchers have demonstrated a ‘backlash’, such that young men on average have endorsed less appropriate attitudes after the program than they did before. Several recommendations that arose from focus groups and interviews with adolescents are to address some prevention topics, at least initially, in separate gender groups (CRI-VIFF, 1999). This would allow for universal prevention programming, but be attentive to the presentation, safety, and knowledge differences that exist between the sexes. The groups could then re-convene and share learning afterwards. Teacher Training: The extent of involving teachers in dating violence prevention programs varies greatly from none to about 20 hours. Several programs consult with classroom teachers to provide strategies that other educators have found effective. When training is provided, it focuses on background information about dating violence, specific program content and how to talk with youth who have been victimized or perpetrated violence within a dating relationship. Parent Involvement: Less than half of the programs reviewed offer parent information session. When available, parent workshops provide information on dating violence and how to help teens that might be in an abusive relationship. Did They Work? A number of different outcomes are typically assessed in evaluations of dating violence prevention efforts. Most programs increase knowledge of the dynamics of dating violence and, hypothetically, what might be done to avoid such violence. Although knowledge of and skills for developing healthy relationships are a focus in many programs, these outcomes are rarely assessed. The results of the research on the effectiveness of dating violence prevention programs to change inappropriate attitudes that support violence and to actually reduce physical, sexual and emotional abuse in teen dating relationships have been mixed. Changing attitudes appears to be more challenging than other outcomes. Often significant attitude changes do not occur until the second year of the program for young women and the third year for young men. This pattern may also explain the lack of effectiveness of many evaluations that rely on only pre- and post-test data. In summary, gender differences are important in both the prevalence and incidence of dating violence and the outcomes of prevention programming. Dating violence prevention research has taken a leadership role in examining the impact of programming on the sexes. When compared to young men, young women tend to have higher knowledge and attitude scores at pre- and sharper, faster improvements in appropriate attitude scores, use more emotional abuse at pre-test but showing a greater reduction at post-test. Young women are also more resistant to peer pressure and pressure to conform than young men at post-test and follow-up. Not all dating violence prevention programs are successful in their efforts to change attitudes and reduce violence. For example, Wisdom, Belamaric, Rohrbeck and Dutton (August, 1999) reported on the lack of effectiveness of the High School Domestic Violence Workshop Curriculum. In this well designed study with over 300 students, that used reliable and valid outcome measures, students in the program condition did not differ significantly from control group students on scores of knowledge, attitudes, or behavioural intentions to intervene in dating violence situations. CRI-VIFF (Centre de Recherche Interdisciplinaire sur la Violence Familiale et la Violence Faite aux Femmes). (1999). Quebec report. In the Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence (Eds.), Violence prevention and the girl child: Final report (pp. 26-50). London, ON: Alliance of Five Research Centres on Violence. DeKeseredy, W.S. (1997). Measuring sexual abuse in Canadian university/college dating relationships: The contributions of a national representative sample survey. In M.D. Schwartz (Ed.), Researching sexual violence against women: Methodological and personal perspectives (pp. 43-53). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Health Canada (1995). Dating violence. Available online from the National Clearinghouse on Family Violence at http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hppb/familyviolence/wifeabus.htm Jaffe, P., Sudermann, M., Reitzel, D., & Killip, S. (1992). An evaluation of a secondary school primary prevention program on violence in intimate relationships. Violence and Victims, 7, 129-146. Lavoie, F., Robitataille, L., & Herbert, M. (2000). Teen dating relationships and aggression: An exploratory study. Violence Against Women, 6(1), 6-36. O’Keefe, M. (1997). Predictors of dating violence among high school students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 12(4), 546-568. Price, E.L., Byers, E.S., Sears, H.A., Whelan, J., & Saint-Pierre, M. (2000). Dating violence amongst New Brunswick adolescents: A summary of two studies. Research Papers Series: Number 2. Fredericton, New Brunswick: Muriel McQueen Fergusson Centre for Family Violence Research. Wisdom, J.P., Belamaric, R., Rohrbeck, C.A., & Dutton, M.A. (August 1999). Effectiveness of a violence prevention program with a legal emphasis. Poster presented at the 10th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Boston, MA. Wolfe, D.A., Wekerle, C., & Scott, K. (1997). Alternatives to violence: Empowering youth to develop health relationships. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Prevention Programs Addressing Youth Dating Violence
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This site last updated: 23 September, 2002 Home RESOLVE Alberta
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Youth
Dating Violence 