Cross-sectional and Temporal Associations Between Cyber Dating Abuse Victimization and Mental Health and Substance Use Outcomes

• NCJ Number: 253316
• Author(s): Yu Lu; Joris Van Ouytsel; Michel Walrave; Koen Ponnet; Jeff R. Temple
• Date Published: June 2018
• Length: 5 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-WG-BX-0005
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Description
• Award: Continuation of Dating It Safe: A Longitudinal Study on Teen Dating Violence

Annotation

This study examined the cross-sectional and temporal associations between cyber dating abuse victimization (CDAV) and mental health (i.e., anxiety, PTSD, and depression), and substance use (i.e., alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana and hard drugs).

Abstract

Data were used from the fifth and sixth waves of an ongoing longitudinal study of ethnically diverse adolescents from seven public high schools in Texas. Participants were 641 adolescents (63.3 % female) with a mean age of 19.1 years (SD=.79) at Wave five. Analyses suggested that although CDAV was associated with mental health and substance use cross-sectionally, when examining over time, it was only associated with past-year hard drug and past-month marijuana use. Although long-term mental health effects of CDAV did not emerge in the current study, it identified a temporal link to marijuana and hard drugs, highlighting the need for prevention efforts to incorporate messages about substance use. (publisher abstract modified)