Teen dating violence: Investigating individual, family and peer influences

Teen relationship violence is prevalent in our society (e.g. Avery-Leaf, Cascardi, O'Leary, & Cano, 1997), and may be a precursor for later domestic violence as adults (Magdol, Moffitt, Caspi & Silva, 1998). Research has found that peer influence and inter-parental violence is associated with dating violence amongst teens (Arriaga & Foshee, 2004). An examination of the influence of various other forms of family violence (e.g., inter-sibling violence, family conflict, harsh parenting) would be an important contribution to a comparison study of peer influence on dating violence. There is also a necessity to focus on young Latino youth because this population is often overlooked (O'Keefe, 1997). The purpose of this study is to examine individual, family and peer influences in relation to dating violence amongst 204 Mexican adolescents (60-70% female) from Monterrey, Mexico. Participants completed surveys assessing the influence of factors within an ecological framework model that assessed risk factors within the individual, family, and peer. Multiple regression analyses revealed that anger control and peer descriptive norms of teen dating violence related to dating violence in females. These two predictors accounted for about one third of the variance of dating violence, which was highly significant. Parental monitoring was predictive of reduced teen relationship perpetration in males. This predictor accounted for about on fifth of the variance, which was highly significant. The implications of these results are discussed in regards to the influence of individual, family, and peer factors on teen dating violence.