The incidence of courtship violence is predicted to be as high as the rate of domestic violence, approximately one in five students have had a direct personal experience of dating violence (Gray & Foshee, 1997). Dating violence is well known among teens, however, it often goes unreported to school officials. The purpose of this research project is to examine dating violence and other violent behaviors among teens residing in rural and urban communities. This research project compares and contrasts data from the 1996 and 1999 Teen Assessment Project Questionnaire, which was a survey of 2,107 (1996) and 2,734 (1999) teens in five school districts in upstate New York. This study found that the prevalence of dating violence was higher among rural teens when compared to their urban counterparts. Violence decreased for both school and community violence, however no changes were found for dating violence. Fourteen percent of teens reported a prior history of violence in their family of origin. For both time periods, rural teens reported an increased risk of participating in dating violence.. Similarities and differences will be further discussed regarding rural and urban teens dating and violent behaviors based on: demographic characteristics, past history of violence, and socio-economic characteristics. These findings suggest that schools need to provide conflict resolution seminars that target intimate and interpersonal relationships.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe differences between rural, suburban, and urban teens regarding dating violence behaviors. 2. Describe differences between rural, suburban, and urban teens regarding interpersonal violence behaviors. 3. Identify strategies to address reducing teen behaviors regarding dating, school and community violence.
Keywords: Adolescents, Violence
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
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