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Alcohol consumption and dating violence among high-risk urban school youth: What do we know and why should we care
Physical dating violence (PDV) perpetration and victimization is a significant public health issue linked to negative health outcomes. The negative effects of alcohol consumption (AC) to the human race cannot be over-emphasized including wreaking havoc on nearly every facet of human existence.Most researches have focused on the consumption of alcohol by student populations but have excluded the high risk groups. US department of education’s 2013 factsheet on PDV showed that one-in-three US teens aged 14-20 have been victims and about the same number said that they have committed relationship violence themselves; a 2009 study of sixth-graders found that 25% thought it was acceptable for boys to hit their girlfriends. Amongst teens, 20% of students with mostly D and F grades have engaged in dating violence in the last 12 months while only 6% of students with mostly A’s have engaged in dating violence.NIH’s 2014 monitoring-the-future survey showed 23.5% of 10th graders, and 37.4% of 12th graders reported past-month AC.
Objective:To investigate the association of alcohol consumption with PDV perpetration and victimization among high-risk urban school youth
Data/Methods:Data for this research comes from the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) conducted among a representative sample of students in grades 9-12 in the United States. Several weighted logistic regression models were used to estimate the odds of PDV as a result of AC.
Results: The odds of PDV in past 12 months is more than 3 times higher among those youths who reported having more than 100 times AC compared to no AC. Female students are 3 times more likely to experience PDV as a result of heavy AC compared to male students.
Conclusions: High-risk urban youth who consume alcohol are more likely to perpetrate PDV.They need to be kept engaged with social/educational activities to reduce the increasing incidence of AC and PDV
Learning Areas:
EpidemiologyPublic health or related research
Learning Objectives:
Explaining and investigating the association of alcohol consumption with physical dating violence perpetration and victimization among high-risk urban school youth
Keyword(s): Alcohol Use, Youth Violence
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a Physician, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Health Disparities at the University of Minnesota and a Doctoral Candidate in Public Health at Morgan State University working on research in the area of alcohol use in the US.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.