Dating Violence and Interpersonal Victimization Among a National Sample of Latino Youth

• NCJ Number: 249361
• Author(s): Carlos A. Cuevas, Chiara Sabina, Kristin A. Bell
• Date Published: October 2014
• Length: 7 pages
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Award: Dating Violence Among Latino Adolescents(DAVILA)

Annotation

The purpose of this study was (1) to provide the rates of dating violence victimization among a national sample of Latino adolescents, (2) to determine the degree to which different forms of dating violence victimization co-occurred for this sample, and (3) to determine how much dating violence victimization overlapped with other forms of non–partner-perpetrated victimization.

Abstract

Results show elevated rates of dating violence victimization compared with previous studies, which is primarily accounted for by psychological dating violence. The rate of dating violence appears to precipitously increase starting around ages 13 and 14 years old and is consistently higher for boys. Each type of dating violence was significantly associated with other forms of dating violence (e.g., physical and psychological). Dating violence was significantly associated with experiencing conventional crime, peer or sibling victimization, and non-partner sexual victimization as well as being a poly-victim. These results support the importance of early prevention efforts with Latino youth and addressing dating violence with both sexes. Furthermore, dating violence should be seen as a potential risk marker for youth who are experiencing multiple forms of victimization. The analysis used data from the Dating Violence Among Latinos Study, which surveyed 1,525 Latino adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18 years old about past-year dating violence and non–partner-perpetrated victimization. Victimization rates and relative risk ratios were calculated to evaluate the co-occurrence among different forms of dating violence victimization, as well as the co-occurrence of dating violence and other forms of victimization. (Publisher abstract modified)