Healthy Teens–Can 6th grade characteristics predict dating and dating violence in 9th grade?

Purpose: Healthy Teens is a longitudinal study of students followed from middle to high school. In ninth grade, the sample was divided into four mutually exclusive groups: did not date in prior 3 months (35%), dated-no victimization (29%), dated-psychological victimization only (16%), and dated-physical victimization (20%). 9th graders who dated and reported physical victimization fared significantly worse in all but one of the variables studied, while the other three groups did not differ. This presentation examines how these four dating groups, as defined in the 9th grade, fare in 6th grade. Methods: The sample consisted of 629 students (47.4% females; 64% were 15 years old; 50% White, 39% Black, 9% Latino) attending high schools in Northeast Georgia. Based on an ecological model, we compared these four groups on personal (norms about dating, life satisfaction, self-efficacy for alternatives to aggression, drug use, and delinquency), family (family structure, parental support for aggression and alternatives), and school characteristics (value on achievement, academic grades). Results: In 6th and 9th grades, the dated-physical victimization was significantly worse than the first three groups in all variables. Females in the two victimization groups reported significantly higher hopelessness and suicide thoughts than the other groups. Conclusions: The results highlight the many ways that students who are victims of dating violence differ from their peers over several years and that prevention strategies must start early. The implications for prevention will be discussed.